African Continental FreeTrade Zone : Deepening Economic Integration

Within the perspective of deepening African integration by establishing a single market for goods, services, investments, intellectual property rights and the movement of people across the continent, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Paul Tasong defended bill No 123/PJL/SEN/2L to authorise the President of the Republic to ratify the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Zone (ACFTZ) signed on March 21, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda by African Union member States. He was assisted by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Islamic World? Adoum Gargoum as he presented and defended the bill before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate on June 24, 2019 in the presence of the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Bolvine Wakata.

Minister Tasong told committee members that the Agreement which was signed in Kigali marks a new phase on the African Union’s path to greater integration and its ratification by Cameroon will help to foster South-South cooperation, capture new markets, optimise customs revenue and diversify sources of supply. The Agreement, the Minister Delegate stated, comprises a preamble and four legal instruments which are the institutional framework, the protocol on trade in goods, the protocol on trade in services and the protocol on rules and procedures on the settlement of disputes. Paul Tasong noted that the Agreement has legal binding principles an...