Namibia and other member states, who ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, are to meet specific deadlines in the realisation of agreement.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said some of the expectations include the submission of their tariff offers for negotiations of tariff concessions.
Negotiated tariff offers are expected to be submitted to the African Union (AU) Commission for approval by January 2020.
Countries have agreed that 90 per cent of tariffs on trade in goods will be eliminated. Of the remaining 10 per cent, seven per cent may be designated as sensitive and three percent of the tariff lines can be excluded from liberalisation.
The AfCFTA entered into force on May 30, 2019 upon ratification by 24 member states.
It was officially launched on July 7, 2019, at the 12th Extraordinary AU Assembly held in Niamey, Niger.
The AfCFTA will bring together all 55 member states of the African Union, covering a market of more than 1.2 billion people, including a growing middle class, and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$3.4 trillion.
Nandi-Ndiatwah said that negotiations of tariff reduction for the seven percent are to be concluded by January 2020 and negotiation results will then be deposited with the AU Commission.
She noted that trading and tariff dismantling under the AfCFTA is to commence in July 2020, and member states are expected to conclude outstanding rules of origin negotiation.
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