Marrakech is hosting today the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Business Forum, a high-level event marked by bilateral meetings and strategic discussions aimed at strengthening priorities for the next phase of Africa’s economic integration and advancing the effective implementation of the agreement on the ground.
The forum is taking place in the presence of the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, alongside Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, as well as several African ministers of trade and senior representatives from the public and private sectors.
Despite being a continent rich in natural and human resources, Africa has faced significant economic and development challenges in recent years. However, these challenges have also revealed vast opportunities for growth, underscoring the urgency of moving from negotiation to concrete implementation of the AfCFTA. The agreement is expected to deliver tangible results in trade and production, while providing a vital platform to deepen dialogue between policymakers and the private sector, and to explore new partnership opportunities across the continent.
The AfCFTA Business Forum represents a pivotal step in this process, reaffirming two core principles: ensuring that no African country is left behind, and achieving integration in a balanced manner that takes into account disparities between more advanced economies and less developed countries across the continent. Participants emphasized the importance of advancing a set of priority measures, starting with the strengthening of African supply chains through the gradual liberalization of tariffs. Such measures are intended to reinforce production linkages between African countries and enhance the presence of African-made products within continental markets.
The discussions also highlighted the crucial role of the private sector as a key driver capable of translating the commitments of the AfCFTA into concrete investments, industrial and service projects, and sustainable job creation. The strong participation of business leaders in the forum reflects a genuine readiness for closer cooperation between governments and the private sector to achieve shared economic objectives.
The African Continental Free Trade Area constitutes a vast economic framework encompassing more than 1.4 billion people and a combined gross domestic product exceeding $3.4 trillion. Speakers stressed that the true value of this framework will be realized only when these collective capacities are transformed into concrete outcomes in production, trade, and investment, in service of Africa’s future and its people.
Current estimates indicate that intra-African trade accounts for no more than 15 percent of the continent’s total trade. Effective implementation of the AfCFTA, however, has the potential to significantly increase this share, thereby boosting economic growth, attracting greater investment, and creating broader opportunities for Africa’s youth and women.
