Dr Ashatu Kijaji, Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade. PHOTO | COURTESY
Business journalist
Summary
·
The government has set a
deadline for the tabling of recommendations on products to be featured
Dar es Salaam. The government has set March as the deadline for the collection of opinions about the
products to be traded under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) arrangement with effect from July this year.Dr Ashatu Kijaji, Minister of
Investment, Industry, and Trade, made the revelation in an exclusive interview
with The Citizen last week.She reiterated her sentiment that, to start with,
Tanzania will allow the trading of 10 products with effect from July this year.
“We have yet to identify the
products.” “We have only recently begun discussions with members of the
business community in order for them to tell us which products they want to
trade under the AfCFTA arrangement,” Dr Kijaji explained over the phone.
Last week, the government and the
private sector had their first engagement meeting, and the minister said they
would have a number of them.
The two parties had another meeting
here on February 2 (Thursday), the event that was meant to discuss challenges
that the private sector is grappling with and chart a way forward.
The icing on the cake, Dr Kijaji
said, after Thursday’s meeting, the government and members of the private
sector will hold meetings in Arusha, Mwanza, Kagera, Dodoma, and Mbeya and
conclude in Dar es Salaam.
Dr Kijaji went on to say that
members of the business community will use the meetings as a platform to air
the challenges that they are grappling with and chart a way forward.
“We (the government) want to
communicate in the same language as investors. They will tell us what hurts
them in trade and investment, and we will act accordingly,” she recounted.
He went on to add: “We must trade
under the AfCFTA. We will not accept Tanzania as the only marketplace for
products from other countries.”
In 2022, Tanzania was one of the
eight countries that were selected for the pilot project, “the AfCFTA
Initiative on Guided Trade Trial.” The other seven countries are Ghana, Kenya,
Cameroon, Rwanda, Egypt, Mauritius, and Tunisia. Some 100 traders from Ghana,
Cameroon, Kenya, Egypt, Mauritius, and Rwanda are trading under the AfCFTA,
whose trading started officially on January 1 last year, according to the
government’s document made available to The Citizen last week. According to the
document, the products that have been sold so far under the arrangement are
tiles, tea, coffee, batteries, pasta, chicken, and processed meat.
Investment, Industry, and Trade
(Investment Docket) deputy permanent secretary Ally Gugu said in last week’s
engagement meeting that traders in sisal, coffee, and vegetables had shown
interest in taking part in the AfCFTA.
“We have created an email
address: afcfta.gti@mit.go.tz,” Mr Gugu said in a video clip. Tanzania
Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) chairperson Angelina Ngalula told The Citizen
that AfCFTA is an opportunity to grab.
Given Tanzania’s strategic location
and the growing manufacturing base, she insisted that Tanzanian businesses
should take advantage of the continental free trade area, which has market
access for 1.3 billion people.
“However, we should make sure our
policies are enhancing resilience by boosting intra-Africa trade, especially in
manufacturing products, to cushion economies from volatile commodity prices
from Western and Eastern economies,” recommended Ms Ngalula.
According to the World Economic
Forum, African nations currently trade more internationally than with each
other, with intra-African trade accounting for only 17 percent of African
exports, which is low compared to 59 percent for Asia and 68 percent for
Europe.
Confederation of Tanzania
Industries (CTI) executive director Leodegar Tenga said manufacturers were
ready to grab opportunities brought by the AfCFTA.
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