By Archford Chirimudombo
Harare, (New Ziana) – Africa must accelerate the removal of trade barriers and strengthen regional market integration to unlock investment, create jobs and reduce its dependence on primary commodity exports, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene said on Thursday.
Addressing Heads of State and Government at the 25th COMESA Summit in Harare, Mene said Africa needed to build a stronger domestic market capable of driving trade and investment amid an increasingly uncertain global economic environment.
He said the African Union’s decision to eliminate tariffs across the continent by 2030 presented an opportunity to deepen economic integration and expand commercial opportunities for businesses and citizens.
“The 39th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government took a very bold decision, and that is to fully liberalise and to eliminate tariff impositions in Africa by the year 2030,” Mene said.
He said the decision reflected the need for Africa to accelerate the development of its domestic market for trade and investment, particularly as the global trading system continued to change.
Mene said the continent’s regional economic blocs, including COMESA, remained critical to the successful implementation of the continental trade agreement.
He commended COMESA for its contribution to regional integration, highlighting its trade-supporting instruments, including the Trade and Development Bank and reinsurance facilities that help facilitate commerce.
Mene also praised the cooperation between the AfCFTA Secretariat and COMESA, saying stronger institutional collaboration was essential to creating a functional continental market that delivers tangible benefits.
“Our collaboration is essential to making the African Continental Free Trade Area a fully functional market that delivers tangible commercial opportunities and jobs, opportunities for young people, private sector and our citizens across the continent,” he said.
On implementation, Mene said 54 African Union member states had signed the agreement establishing the AfCFTA, and 50 had ratified it, with Somalia becoming the latest country to do so.
He said 26 state parties had gazetted the agreement into national law and were actively trading under its rules.
Mene commended 12 COMESA member states for gazetting their AfCFTA tariff concessions into national law, describing regional cooperation as central to advancing the continental market.
He, however, stressed that implementation required continuous monitoring and evaluation to ensure countries translated their commitments into practical measures that facilitate cross-border trade and investment.
Such efforts, he said, should strengthen regional value chains and lower the cost of doing business, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises and smallholder farmers.
Mene said Africa also needed to address its longstanding position in global trade, noting that its share of global exports had remained at around three percent for more than three decades under the multilateral trading system.
He said the continent’s export basket remained heavily concentrated in primary commodities, reflecting historical economic structures that had limited its ability to capture greater value from international trade.
The AfCFTA, he said, offered an opportunity to reverse that trend by strengthening intra-African commerce, supporting industrialisation and enabling African countries to participate more meaningfully in regional and global value chains.
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