By Majaha Nkonyane | 2018-12-19

THE Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo is working hard on reviving the ailing economy of the country.

This was through different discussions held at the seventh meeting of the African Union Ministers of Trade (7th AMOT) that was held from December 12 to 13 in Cairo, Egypt.

Khumalo engaged in several discussions at the meeting which included trade in goods and trade in services amongst others.

On trade in goods, the level of ambition from the minister is to liberalise over a period of 10 years for developing countries and 13 years for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 97 per cent of the tariffs, in order to boost intra-African trade. Therefore, three per cent of the tariffs will be excluded, which is subject to be reviewed after five years, from the year of coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Trade in goods includes all goods which add to, or subtract from, the stock of material resources of a country by entering its economic territory imports or leaving it exports.

On trade in services, the approach is to liberalise progressively in different rounds of negotiations, in the agreed priority sectors.

agreed

For the first round, five priority sectors have been agreed upon and endorsed by the African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government, and these are business, communication, financial and tourism.

Trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of an intangible product, called a service, between a producer and consumer.

Khumalo is set to be involved in phase two of the AfCFTA negotiations, which will commence in 2019 and will cover competition, investment and intellectual property rights.

On the side-lines of the meeting, Khumalo had a breakfast meeting with His Excellency Ambassador Albert Muchanga, the AU commissioner for Trade and Industry. During this meeting, the minister reaffirmed Eswatini’s keen and strategic interest to be considered to host the Secretariat/Headquarters of the AfCFTA.

Consequently, the Honourable Minister also met with his counterpart, Adan Mohamed from the Republic of Kenya, on the same issue of hosting the Secretariat of the AfCFTA. During the discussions, Khumalo stated that due to the long standing cordial relations that happily exist between the two countries, the Kingdom of Eswatini will count on the support of the Republic of Kenya.

Khumalo also had an engagement with aviation and logistics expert Ashraff Aziz, who has an interest in exploring business opportunities in the areas of cargo airfreight and logistics, including warehousing and storage.

The minister was further involved in a meeting with the top executive members of the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK), which were being led by the Executive Vice President, Denys Denya. He was briefed on the necessary steps that will make Eswatini to be a member and a beneficiary of the products that are being offered by the AFREXIMBANK.

 These products range from supporting structural and transformational reforms and other capacity-building interventions to address the challenges of supply side constraints that hinder many African countries to trade optimally.

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