Trade expert says AfCFTA not sprint but marathon

Olusegun Olutayo, Senior Trade Expert and Lead, Trade Enablement at Nigeria’s African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Coordination Office, says AfCFTA is not a sprint but a marathon.

“To have a maximum benefit from it, which I believe is what our founding fathers and mothers envisioned, we must see it not just as a trade agreement but as a means of prospering the lives of people.”

Olutayo spoke on Friday during an AfCFTA awareness and sensitisation webinar organised by the Bashir Adeniyi Centre for International Trade and Investment (BACITI) of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).

The webinar had the theme, “Leveraging AfCFTA to Access New Markets, Increase Exports, and Simplify Cross-Border Payments.”

According to Olutayo, the mandate of his office is to coordinate and ensure that every Nigerian gets to know, maximise, and benefit from the AfCFTA.

He said the AfCFTA offers a single market for Africa and particularly Nigeria to turn its economy around from being an import-dependent continent.

“When we begin to manufacture and trade within ourselves, we will be able to turn our economy around. Other regions, like the European Union, use their regional trade to galvanise their economy. This way, it is easier for the U.S. to trade with Mexico and for France to trade with Sweden.”

Olutayo said one of the most crucial instruments for regional trade is the Rules of Origin.

This, he said, has two categories: wholly obtained and substantially transformed.

Supreme News reports that AfCFTA Rules of Origin are a set of criteria and conditions used to determine whether or not goods that are traded between state parties qualify as originating goods.

According to Olutayo, wholly obtained means a product is produced or manufactured in a given country, an example of which is most agricultural products, mineral products, live animals, among others.

“The substantially transformed category has three major criteria, including change in tariff classification, value addition, and manufacturing or processing operations.

“AfCFTA has to do with international trade, and you must be ready to fulfil all rules of origin criteria, procedures, and standards that are required here in Nigeria and in the country that you are trading into. It cannot be negotiated.”

On the AfCFTA protocols, he said intellectual property rights gave brands enormous benefits, noting that the first principle in international trade is transparency.

He urged stakeholders and policymakers to take advantage of the AfCFTA, adding that employment opportunities and prosperity for the people of Africa are reachable through it.