Know about major trade agreements linking Egypt with Africa

CAIRO – 23 August 2021: As Egypt always seeks to create more cooperation and trade interdependence with other countries in the African continent, there are a number of economic and trade agreements that plays this role.

Egypt has a number of trade agreements that link it with 55 African states, aiming to increase economic cooperation.

Cairo currently working to finish the linkage between the northern tip of the continent with the southern top through several projects, atop of which is a road between Cairo and Cape Town, South Africa’s capital city. This road to facilitate the transfer of goods and products between African countries, which was one of the biggest obstacles facing businessmen, importers and exporters.

In the below lines, et will display some of these agreements:

COMESA

Perhaps the most prominent trade agreement in the African continent is the COMESA, which is the Common Market Agreement for Eastern and Southern Africa, as a preferential trade area that aims to establish a free trade area between member states to become a customs union, and then a common market.

Egypt became a member of COMESA in 1998 along with 19 active member states. On the other hand, Egypt, as a member of COMESA, exempts goods and products bearing COMESA certificates of origin completely from customs duties and any other fees and taxes of similar effect.

With reference to the rules of origin of the agreement, customs exemptions are applied to all imports of goods originating from member states with an added value of up to 45 percent.

African Continental Free Trade Agreement:

In March 2018, after two years of continuous negotiations, African Heads of State and Government signed in Kigali, Rwanda, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which is the largest trade agreement in the world, and it entered into force on May 30, 2019 with the ratification of 22 countries, where Egypt was among the first countries that signed and ratified this convention.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of this agreement is its comprehensiveness and depth in liberalization among African countries in the areas of trade in goods and services.

Egypt also seeks to benefit itself from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement since the agreement makes the African market open to Egyptian products, given its competitive prices compared to the prices of Indian and Chinese products, in addition to the entry of Egyptian products to African countries without customs in light of Cairo’s attempts to overcome obstacles to accessing some markets on the continent, including those of landlocked countries.

Merging the country together

In order to achieve the real benefit from ACFTA agreement, an urgent plan is required to increase Egyptian exports to the African market, in addition to activating the role of joint business councils with the countries of the continent, requiring investment in infrastructure and linkage between the countries of the continent through railways, land roads and river corridors, in order to enhance trade exchange between them.

There is also the road linking Cairo to Dakar in Senegal in West Africa, in addition to a highway that extends across West Africa from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Lagos, Nigeria, as well as the river link project between Alexandria and Lake Victoria, which would make the country a gateway to Central Africa via The Nile River, and other actual projects that aim to link African countries to each other in order to enhance trade and the movement of labor among them.