[ad_1]
UPSA Law School Dean Professor Kofi Abotsi cited the unavailability of ready markets for most countries on the African continent as an obstacle to their full participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Speaking at a roundtable on trade in Africa organized by his team on the theme: Towards zero barriers: the AfCFTA and regional unions, Professor Abotsi underlined the relevance of the pact.
“Trade will stop if you can’t afford to compete when you’re ill-prepared. Some countries on the continent have been a bit slow to sign the AfCFTA, in part because they weren’t entirely sure their domestic industries were ready for competition.
“This is where the unions come in. The unions are supposed to help allay the fears and concerns of these countries and some stakeholders over the AfCFTA agreements. Barriers will always be a problem and there will be all kinds of non-structural barriers that oppose people seeking to do legitimate business across the continent, ”he explained.
While expressing his optimism about the AfCFTA, Prof. Abotsi said “I expect unions across the continent to be able to bring together different stakeholders to take advantage of the benefits offered by the deal. the ZLECAf ”.
TUC unhappy with tariff removal
Ghana’s Trade Union Congress (TUC) has also criticized the AfCFTA’s tariff elimination target, saying it would inadvertently lead to a “commercial capture” by other economic bodies that have trade deals with African countries. .
According to the director of the Institute for Labor Research and Policy, Dr Kwabena Nyarko Otoo, this is evidence of a lack of large-scale consultation with stakeholders beyond top trade ministries and institutions. level.
“For AfCFTA, consultation was only at a high level – between the AU and trade ministries. Even regional economic groupings such as ECOWAS, which had been at the forefront of liberalization within sub-regions, were not properly consulted on the overall architecture of the AfCFTA. The unions were not consulted at all, ”he said.
“We will see the effects of the lack of consultation as the Accord rolls out and we begin the implementation process,” he added.
French connection
The acting executive director of the National Institute of Labor and Economic Development (NALEDI) in South Africa, Hameda Deedat, however, said it would be naive to assume that France, which holds a grip on central banks, the currencies and trade of many of its former colonies, will not use them as proxies to take unfair advantage of the AfCFTA.
“When you start cutting tariffs, it basically means that your competitive advantage – especially for industries that are growing or that won’t be able to compete or that aren’t used to competition – is going to be eroded. over the next five years, 90% of Africa will trade with minimal import duties. It is dangerous, because we have not even properly addressed the issue of rules of origin, “she said.
“We might think that removing tariffs is good because it brings prices down, but it could actually lead to monopoly and price fixing, because we basically become a free market for the rest of the world and are forced to offer the lowest wages in order to secure FDI.
The AfCFTA needs all the stakeholders on board
Caroline Khamati Mughatti, executive director of the Confederation of East African Trade Unions, said the AfCFTA will be successful if there is an effective structure, while the systems also work.
“It is very important to have structured mechanisms for systematic and effective participation of all stakeholders, unions, civil society, private sector, etc. But the question is, who is the private sector that will be engaged?
“We need to involve the private sectors that speak for the African market and not the private sector that drives other agendas. These mechanisms should not only be aimed at the continental level, we need to bring the conversations to the workshop.
Source link
