A Pan-African Private Sector Trade and Investment Committee (PAFTRAC) has been establish to serve as an advocacy platform to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The committee is expected to enhance private sector participation in trade and investment policy formulation, including trade negotiations.
This was contained in a communique issued at the end of a meeting co-hosted by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Union Commission in Ethiopia.
According to the communique, PAFTRAC will be driven by a group of leaders comprising chief executives of leading African businesses and financial institutions, representatives of regional African business councils and chambers of commerce.
It will also include representatives of African policy and research institutions.
PAFTRAC members committed to mobilizing wider private sector support for the PAFTRAC initiative and adopted a work programme for the period 2019 to 2021.
This will, among others, focus on Trade Finance; Trade Facilitation; Non-Tariff Measures; and Africa’s external trade and investment relations. The PAFTRAC Secretariat will be hosted by Afreximbank.
African leaders  in March 2018, signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement in Rwanda. The deal was signed at an extraordinary summit in Kigali, Rwanda by representatives of 44 of the 55 African Union (AU) member states.
The AFCTA among other things seeks to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments.
This will pave way for accelerating and establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union.
Source: Africafeeds.com
