AfCFTA member states must automate systems for smooth trade – IT and trade experts

Many problems are likely to be encountered if partial automation continues

Countries participating in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement must ensure that they have all automated their systems in order to deal with trade barriers and dumping issues in order to successfully create the bloc , advised technology and trade experts.

Speaking at a virtual event on “Technology and Trade in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities”, Controller, Modernization, ICT and Risk Management for Nigeria, Adekunle Oloyede, highlighted the need for all countries to take automation seriously, as failure on the part of some will affect the flow of trade under the AfCFTA agreement.

“If we are fully automated and other countries are not, it will create a lot of obstacles, because how do we prevent dumping? With automation and good technology, we can succeed in the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Many problems are likely to be encountered along the way if partial automation continues to be the option. Oversight countries should revisit automation to help harness the success of commerce, ”he said at the virtual event hosted by global AI company Webb Fontaine.

Fridah Kimani, Trade Facilitation Specialist at Kenya Revenue Authority Fridah Kimani, also sharing his thoughts on the topic, said opportunities awaited micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through a platform created by the African Union (AU) to monitor regional integration.

She called on the continent’s leaders to take a critical interest in MSMEs and formulate policies that will strengthen their capacity to participate in the continental trade deal, as this will bring many benefits to all countries participating in the trade deal.

“African governments must be prepared in the future for such eventualities or such things that you do not expect in order to promote their trade flows. One of the things they can do is stimulate local MSMEs, ”she said.

She further stated that mutual trust must exist between trading partners in order to move forward as Africans, regardless of discouragement and aggressions among others which will be on the rise, as this will help establish good relations between member countries.

The African Trade Pact connects 1.3 billion people in 55 countries with a combined GDP valued at $ 3.4 trillion. The AfCFTA would significantly boost African trade, especially intraregional trade in the manufacturing sector.

The volume of total exports is expected to increase by almost 29% by 2035 compared to the baseline scenario. Intra-continental exports would also increase by more than 81 percent, while exports to non-African countries would increase by 19 percent.