President Kagame to speak at the Opening of AfCFTA Business Forum

President Kagame, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union, will today speak at the Opening of the African Continent Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum, which takes place a day before the historical signing of the AfCFTA Agreement and Protocols as a follow-up to the January 2018 Assembly decision to hold an Extra-Ordinary Summit. 

The forum involves African Union Member States, African Union Commission (AUC), the Private Sector from both Africa and beyond, regional and international organizations, academia and civil society. It provides a Pan-African platform for promoting and enhancing multi-stakeholder investment and trade policy advocacy and dialogue.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the AfCFTA is expected to increase intra-African trade by 52% by 2022. This will boost production, consumption and economic growth across the continent.

The event provides an ideal framework for stakeholder mobilization to harness the opportunities offered by the AfCFTA. It is also the ideal opportunity to gather the perspectives and aspirations of the private sector which policy makers can use to inform the integration of the African Union by harnessing the resources of the Private Sector.

The official launch of the AfCFTA will take place on March 21, 2018 and will be presided by H.E President Kagame, current Chairperson of the African Union.

The opening session will be marked by key statements by  Heads of State and Government in attendance, as well as statements by H.E Mahamadou Issoufou, President of the Republic of Niger and Champion of the African Continental Free Trade Area and H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Followed by the inaugural signing  of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area.

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