Luanda - Angola is working for the approval, this month, of the operationalisation process of the agreement for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the minister of Industry and Trade said Wednesday in Luanda.
Victor Fernandes, who was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Workshop on "Prospects for regional integration in the AfCFTA," said that Angola was ready to start trading, and was only waiting for the statutorily required authorisations.
The African Continental Free Trade Area came into force in January this year, with the agreement signed in March 2018 by 54 of the 55 African Union member states. Thirty-nine (39) states have already ratified the instrument.
"Angola has already ratified entry into the trade zone in 2020. At this moment, we are preparing its tariff offer and it is practically ready (...)," the Angolan minister said.
In his turn, the Secretary of State for Industry, Ivan do Prado, recalled that at the end of 2020 a seminar was held to present the proposed offer, during which contributions were made to enrich the document.
He reinforced that, in relation to the preparatory process, trade negotiations have been taking place to operationalise the agreement on three aspects, namely the tariff offer, rules of origin and trade in services.
