AfCFTA : “Trade in Africa will be completely free of customs tariff & barriers by 2026”

Trade in Africa will be completely free of customs tariff & barriers by 2026, in accordance with the African Union’s agenda, spokesman for the General Directorate of Customs Haithem Zannad said 6 may, at an awareness-raising conference on the theme: « Speeding up the implementation of the AfCFTA: What is the role of customs”. 

The AfCFTA entered into force in May 2019. It was ratified by Tunisia on August 7, 2020. It is one of the flagship projects of the African Union (AU). It aims to boost South-South cooperation for an « integrated, prosperous and peaceful » Africa in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063 and to consolidate trade relations between the Union’s 55 member States in a market totalling more than 300 million consumers and $3,400 billion in annual trade.

The agreement aims to remove customs barriers to the free movement of goods and services between African countries.