South

On 31st January, 2024 a historic milestone to boost trade in Africa has made as South Africa started exporting under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) highlited the results of South African industry and innovation.

“we are forging a path of mutual growth and shared prosperity. This is a powerful instrument to promote meaningful, impactful trade that benefits all corners of our continent.” H.E. Wamkele Mene said.

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole after serving nearly nine years in prison for killing his girlfriend and is now at home, South Africa´s Department of Corrections said Friday.

The department gave no more details of Pistorius´ release. The announcement came at around 8:30 a.m., indicating corrections officials had released the world-famous double-amputee Olympic runner from the Atteridgeville Correctional Center in the South African capital, Pretoria.

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, the country’s election commission said Sunday.

The preliminary results of the 20th Dec 2023 election were announced in the capital, Kinshasa, amid demands from the opposition and some civil society groups for the vote to be rerun due to massive logistical problems that put the validity of the outcome into question.

Tshisekedi was followed by businessman Moise Katumbi, who received 18% of the vote, and Martin Fayulu, who received 5%. Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege, a physician renowned for treating women brutalized by sexual violence in eastern Congo, got less than 1%.

While Rwanda is one of the seven countries that have started to implement the African free trade program, there are some producers who say that they are still facing challenges in finding packaging for their products, such that they find themselves using expensive packaging or not meeting the international standards.

These are what some of the participants of the intra Africa trade fair that was held in Egypt from 9-15 November 2023 had to say:

On 1st November 2023 The AfCFTA secretariat and Corporate Council for Africa has signed an MoU with the objective to promote partnerships between U.S. and African companies that build on provisions of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to achieve the shared goal of increasing private sector support for and involvement in realizing the goals of the AfCFTA.

The MoU signed is articulated around different sectors such as transportation and logistics, vaccine manufacturing, health sector productive capacity, trade and investment, the automotive sector, agriculture and agroprocessing and women and youth in Trade.

The Government of Zambia with The secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area are hosting the inaugural AfCFTA Youth Symposium from this 21st to 23rd August, 2023 in Lusaka. under the Theme ‘Igniting the future for youth in Trade’

It is expected to host African youth and others where they will be discussing challenges and all the potential benefit in trade through AfCFTA.

While the African Union Theme 2023 Is ‘Acceleration of the AfCFTA Implementation’ Over 60% of African population are under the age of 25 which will be doubled by the year of 2050.