Nigeria signs free trade area agreement with Africa | Policy

African Superpower Nigeria has signed an agreement to increase trade between African countries. This makes Eritrea the only African country not to be part of the trading bloc.

Nigerian President Buhari signed the landmark agreement at the African Union (AU) summit in Niger. The first step will be to reduce tariffs on goods from block countries, but the timetable for doing so has not yet been announced.

For the moment, African countries exchange only about 16% of their goods and services, compared to 65% with European countries, reports the AFP news agency. The AU estimates that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area – called AfCFTA – will result in a 60% increase in intra-African trade by 2022.

AFCFTA will also create the largest free trade area in the world. With the accession of Nigeria, AfCFTA's dream of increasing intra-African trade, which is currently lagging behind the volume of trade that the continent does with Europe , is now a step further.

Now that AfCFTA can provide access to the huge Nigerian market, they are much better able to negotiate with regional organizations in other parts of the world.