44-year-old South African Wamkele Mene has been re-elected as the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat.
African Heads of State and Government at the African Union’s summit last weekend in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, re-affirmed their confidence in Mene, re-appointing him for another four year term.
Mene was first elected in February, 2020 for the top job after vying for the position with other shortlisted persons.
At the last session of #AUSummit, the Heads of State and Government of the @AfricanUnion unanimously expressed their confidence in H.E. @MeneWamkele, reappointing him for another four years as Secretary General of the @AfCFTA Secretariat. #AfCFTA #Africa pic.twitter.com/vuaVNrSgNl
— AfCFTA Secretariat Official (@AfCFTA) February 19, 2024
Mene was a former Head of Mission to the World Trade Organisation for South Africa before his appointment.
He was from South Africa’s department of trade and industry and the country’s chief negotiator during discussions on the free trade area.
Mene has been operating from Ghana’s capital, Accra which is the host country for the secretariat.
The continental free-trade zone is the world’s largest free trade area uniting 1.3 billion people and creating a $3.4 trillion economic bloc.
The free trade zone is considered a critical action to usher Africa into a new era of development. The African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) will have 54 African Union (AU) members.
African countries only do about 16 per cent of their business with each other with the African Union hoping to change this trend.
The CFTA is a major project of the AU’s long-term development plan Agenda 2063, which emphasis the need to ease trade and travel across the continent.
Source: Africafeeds.com
