Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammad Buhari has signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union on AfCFTA, and the First Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Niamey, Niger Republic.
The President signed the agreement at exactly 10:48 am local time, making Nigeria the 53rd state on the continent to append its signature to the document.
Related: National interest’ll guide AfCTA decision, says Buhari
Buhari had delayed signing the agreement, which entered into force May 30, to give room for extensive consultations with stakeholders, culminating in the submission of the report by the Presidential Committee to Assess Impact and Readiness of Nigeria to join the free trade area.
The committee had recommended that Nigeria sign the agreement which aims to boost intra-African trade.
Twenty four countries have already ratified the AfCFTA, which is expected to be the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization, with a potential market of 1.2 billion people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, across all 55 member states of the African Union.
The Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union also launched the operational instruments of the Agreement establishing AfCFTA.
The instruments include: AfCFTA Rules of Origin, Tariff Concession Portals, Portal on Monitoring and Elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers, Digital Payments and Clearing Systems and African Trade and Observatory Dashboard.