Egypt's President Calls For Expediting African Free Trade Area Agreement Implementation

ADDIS ABABA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th February, 2019) The ratification of the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), needed for implementation of the deal, should be expedited, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Sisi said during the opening ceremony of the African Union's 32nd summit on Sunday.

"We need to strengthen our cooperation and scale up our efforts in order to expedite the CFTA agreement. We also need to strive that this economic agreement reaches tangible results for our people," Sisi said.

The CFTA agreement was signed in late March by 44 out of the 55 members of the African Union at its summit in the Rwandan city of Kigali.

The accord seeks to progressively eliminate tariffs on intra-African trade, which prior to the agreement stood at an average of 6.1 percent across the continent, as well as removing other trade barriers.

The African Union, headquartered in the Ethiopian capital, is a continental union comprised of 55 member states, which aims to achieve regional integration and increase solidarity among all African countries.