South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana pledged that South Africa would uphold the core principles of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in the enlarged BRICS group of developing countries.
AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area, bringing together 55 African Union countries and eight regional economic communities to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of about US$3.4 trillion.
The African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat has unveiled the first ever AfCFTA private sector action plan, with 12 industry giants committing to projects to transform the automotive, agriculture and agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, and logistics and transport sectors.
AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene admitted that these commitments totalling $130 billion signify a leap in realising the potential of intra-African trade.
Godongwana said that the…