The Department of Trade and Industry blamed capacity challenges at the World Trade Organisation and "imbalanced" international trade law enforcement for SA's trade challenges.
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Implementation of the Africa-wide free-trade agreement has had many false starts. This is costing importers money.
Like a multiple-stage rocket, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) has been launched several times. It “entered into force” on 30 May 2019 for the 24 countries which had then ratified it. Its “operational phase” began on 7 July 2019 at an extraordinary African Union (AU) summit in Niamey, capital of Chad. And at another extraordinary AU summit on 5 December 2020, the continent’s leaders announced that trading under the AfCFTA’s preferential terms would start on 1 January 2021.
Yet the agreement, which will create a market of 1.2bn people and a combined GDP of $2.5tr, doesn’t seem to be quite in orbit yet. South Africa was one of few countries ready to go on 1 January and officials indicated that it would start AfCFTA trading with Egypt that day.