Tanzania’s parliament has ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, a blueprint for attaining inclusive and sustainable development across the continent.
With Tanzania’s ratification of the agreement on Thursday, 42 of the 55 African Union (AU) members have now ratified the AfCFTA that seeks to increase intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022 and remove tariffs on 90 percent of goods.
Minister of Industry and Trade Kitila Mkumbo told parliament in the capital, Dodoma, that Tanzania conducted thorough research prior to ratification of the agreement.
He said Tanzania has already started to benefit from the vast African markets by trading with 19 African countries.
Mkumbo said the AfCFTA, which covers a market of 1.2 billion people and 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars in combined gross domestic product (GDP), is expected to strengthen the value chain for agricultural crops, stimulate production and boost smallholder farmers engaging in the cultivation of sunflower, cotton, spices, cloves and horticultural products.
The AfCFTA was signed by 44 of the 55 AU members on March 21, 2018, in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.
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