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Here is the full list of the 44 African nations who signed Continental Free Trade agreement

The decision to form the AfCFTA was adopted in January 2012 during the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU.

The agreement will now be submitted for ratification by state parties in accordance with their domestic laws.

“The promise of free trade and free movement is prosperity for all Africans, because we are prioritizing the production of value-added goods and services that are Made in Africa,” chairman of the African Union (AU) and Rwandan President Paul Kagame said before the leaders began signing the agreements.

“The advantages we gain by creating one African market will also benefit our trading partners around the world.”

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The decision to form the AfCFTA was adopted in January 2012 during the 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU while AfCFTA negotiations launched by the AU began in earnest in 2015.

The objective of AfCFTA include among others to create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of business persons and investments, and thus pave the way for accelerating the establishment of the Continental Customs Union and the African customs union.

Expand intra African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation regimes and instruments across Africa, resolve the challenges of multiple and overlapping memberships and expedite the regional and continental integration processes and enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.

The AfCFTA could create an African market of over 1.2 billion people with a GDP of 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars, the AU said.

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The UN Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 53.2 percent by eliminating import duties.

Intra-Africa trade stands at about 16 percent of the continent’s total, compared with 19 percent in Latin America and 51 percent in Asia, according to the AU.

Here is the full list of the full list of African nations who signed the agreement.

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