By Sherif Tarek Posted on December 4, 2023 14:54 source: Theafricareport
Tanger Med Zones’ Managing Director Ahmed Bennis (second from right) stands next to representatives of African special economic zones during the annual meeting of the Africa Economic Zones Organization, which took place on 23-24 November in Tangier, Morocco. (Photo: Supplied)
Africa’s new free trade agreement can catalyse industrialisation in special economic zones, says the head of Morocco’s Tanger Med Zone, but only if they get the infrastructure and business model right.
Morocco’s Tanger Med, Africa’s largest and most developed industrial port complex, has been for years playing the “role of the locomotive” for the development of African special economic zones (SEZs), a drive that the free trade agreement will consolidate, says Tanger Med Zones’ (TMZ) Managing Director Ahmed Bennis.
The implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), according to observers, could take a decade or more, given numerous stumbling blocks including the lack of governance and infrastructure, red tape and recurrent political disturbance.
However, Bennis, who’s also the secretary general of the Africa Economic Zones Organization (AEZO), sounded an optimistic note. He says he expects the AfCFTA to be implemented “very fast”, citing hefty gains the African SEZs and economies could reap when the agreement comes into effect.
“It’s going to be a game changer for the African economies,” Bennis tells The Africa Report on the sidelines of the AEZO annual meeting, which took place last month in the Moroccan Mediterranean city of Tangier.
“Tanger Med is playing a key role in supporting SEZ development across the continent. We were behind the set-up of AEZO and we are still well involved in supporting different initiatives with our African brothers and sisters.”
AEZO, founded in 2015, has members from more than 40 African nations and is supported by the African Union, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), among others.
Intra-Africa
According to AEZO’s policy brief that was released last February, “by agreeing to partake in AfCFTA, countries, directly and indirectly, agree to accept SEZ-originating products as part of this ecosystem”.
further read:
