By Boris Esono Nwenfor & Sonita Ngunyi Nwohtazie
YAOUNDE, January 19, 2024 – The African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, promises to be a game changer for Cameroon, with its single market of over 1.3 billion people and an estimated GDP of $2.6 trillion. More than four years, some snags have seen Cameroon still in the implementation phase of the agreement.
Following a one-day panel discussion on January 19, 2024, organized by the Nkafu Policy Institute, a think tank of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation, experts admonished Cameroonians to fast-track the main in Cameroon products which will inadvertently see the Central African nation come out of the implementation phase.
Dr Therese Azeng, Head of Research and Publication Division, University of Bertoua said: “AfCFTA is a very important tool for African development. The principal difficulty that arose from the implementation of the free trade area was COVID-19 which delayed the process. What is being done right now by countries such as Cameroon is appreciated. The government is trying its best to put things beyond what was planned in the first phase.”
“There is a provision of some Cameroonian products that can be traded with some foreign countries and the government has put some strategies like first considering the biggest countries in the sub-region like Nigeria, DR Congo and then looking at moving to other countries.”
On March 21, 2018, Cameroon, along with 43 African Union countries convened in Kigali, Rwanda, and signed the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In June 2019, Cameroon’s National Assembly and Senate passed a bill authorizing the President of the Republic to ratify the AfCFTA agreement. On October 31, 2019, Decree N°2019/586 ratifying the agreement was signed, making Cameroon one of 54 countries to sign this historic trade agreement in Africa.
Reuben Tamba, AfCFTA Independent Continental Youth Advisory Council said the government has done its part on the AfCFTA and that it is now left for the private sector to do its part. “Cameroon stands to gain a lot from this agreement and it is only through sensitization that we can make proper use of this agreement. We need to intensify sensitization on the happenings of the AfCFTA,” he said.
The AfCFTA offers the opportunity to create the world’s largest free trade area with the potential to unite over 1.2 billion people in an economic bloc of over 2.5 trillion dollars and usher in a new era of development. It has the potential to generate many benefits through trade expansion, structural transformation, productive employment and poverty reduction.
The fundamental mission of the AfCFTA is to stimulate trade between African countries by eliminating or reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers (elimination of 90% of customs duties on goods and services within a maximum of 15 years).
Despite an entry into force date of January 1, 2021, numerous delays have been noted at the state level, in particular in the presentation of tariff offers for certain customs unions and in the rationalization of certain regional economic communities characterized by the multiple membership of certain states.
Dr Therese Azeng added: There are lots of challenges that we have to address like the problem of roads; to reach the rural population who are the ones selling the product. We have the problem of organizing the climate for business; the doing business in Cameroon. We have to ameliorate some of these factors. In general, we are on the good part to reach the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
Dr Bin Joachim Meh, Policy Analyst at the Nkafu Policy Institute said: “This project has as its objective to create awareness on the importance of the AfCFTA, so, that Cameroonians, policymakers should be able to take strategic decisions that can drive the economy towards emergence.”
“The objective of the training was to see what Cameroon has done so far and what the country needs to do to take advantage of the AfCFTA. Cameroonians need to fast-track the implementation process of the AfCFTA. We are still at the implementation stage; it is high time we move to the level that we become competitive within the African continent. This will entail Cameroonians intensifying the made-in-Cameroon product that should stand out when we are in Ghana, Nigeria, Congo and others.”
The AfCFTA promises to be a game changer for Cameroon, with its single market of over 1.3 billion people and an estimated GDP of $2.6 trillion. Given the goals set by the government in its new National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (NDS30), there is a need to put in place a solid mechanism to ensure that the application of AfCFTA regulations and standards does not become a technical obstacle to Cameroon’s trade with the outside world.
