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Mr Jallow held a sensitization meeting with officials of the Ministry of Trade, led by Deputy Permanent Secretary Abduli Jammeh, at his office in Denton Bridge where he disclosed that his company is in the business of processing and exporting fish.
According to him, their products are exported to countries such as South Africa, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea, adding that the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area is a great opportunity for them.
Speaking about some of the constraints they face when exporting to African countries, he pointed out that the time factor is one of them, noting that it takes longer for containers to reach their destinations in Africa than to reach Europe. He expressed the hope that the African Continental Free Trade Area will study the constraints they face.
The African Continental Free Trade Area promotes closer economic integration among the signatory countries and will enable the region to increase intra-regional trade, including in fish and fishery products, by removing trade barriers and distortions such as import tariffs, quotas and other non-tariff barriers.
Therefore, the purpose of the Ministry’s visit to Atlantic Seafoods was to sensitize the public, especially the business community, on the significance and benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is one of the flagship projects of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which aims to integrate African markets in accordance with the objectives and principles emphasized in the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.
The main goal is to expand and accelerate intra-African trade and increase trade among African countries by eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers and harmonizing standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs cooperation and border procedures and other trade-related regulations. Achieving the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area will also require capacity building and investment in productive sectors, services and trade-related infrastructure.
Jammeh, accompanied by the Director General of Trade, Ousmane Boyan, and other officials of the ministry, briefed Atlantic Seafood on the agreement and the purpose of the AfCFTA Guiding Trade Initiative, which he said was to kick-start commercially meaningful trade under the AfCFTA to boost trade among African countries.
Speaking about trade between African countries, he said that trade between African countries is mainly concentrated with other countries in the world, especially Western countries, Europe, the United States and Asia, rather than between African countries. According to him, this is why African authorities agreed to establish the African Continental Free Trade Area, in which companies investing in Africa can trade in Africa, and in the process, African countries will gradually improve intra-African trade.
He added that Gambia’s manufacturing sector has not yet developed to take advantage of the AfCFTA. However, he noted that there are many companies that have the capacity to participate in the AfCFTA, Atlantic SeaFood being one of them.
Minister Jammeh also delivered a lengthy speech on trade in services and the Guided Trade Initiative, which he said was one of the areas where The Gambia was well placed to participate in the African Continental Free Trade Area, while the Guided Trade Initiative was a deliberate move by the AU authorities to kick-start commercially meaningful trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
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