world

African countries are now making positive efforts to promote common development by strengthening unity and cooperation.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is pushing ahead with large investment and improvement measures to convert the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which has remained at the stage of negotiation into a field of practical economic activities. To this end, ECOWAS reportedly plans to strengthen its regional trade foundation through an investment of US$151 million.

One of the world’s largest free trade areas embracing over 50 countries in Africa, AfCFTA is aimed at reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to integrate the African internal market into a large area of economic activities.

ECOWAS intends to make the recent measure an occasion for African countries to develop the manufacturing industry by freeing themselves from the economy centred on the export of raw materials.

And it also started the infrastructure development project worth US$734. 8 billion and the building of parallel regional infrastructure aimed at boosting trade.

Recently, the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) member states held high-level talks and a meeting to accelerate industrialization and develop trade.

The meeting, which was attended by ministers and economic officials concerned from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, focused on processing natural resources in the region, actively boosting trade of member states and harmoniously developing the scale of regional business.

At the meeting, the member states reached a consensus on the need to accelerate the economic integration, actively develop infrastructure for the distribution of commodities and strengthen industrial forces in order to create sustainable motive force for development in Sahel.

The first meeting on air transport agreement took place in Togo. Attended by leaders of African countries and leading members of the civil aviation commission, it repeatedly emphasized that the full implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) is the core motive power of trade, tourism, investment and regional integration.

It also stressed once again the need to fully enforce the SAATM in order to build a smooth and interconnected air transport sector across the African continent.