The Council of the African Union holds a seminar on the role of the private sector in activating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with the participation of the General Organization for Export and Import Control, chaired by Eng. Essam El-Naggar - Chairman of the General Organization for Export and Import Control.

During the seminar, His Excellency made it clear that economic integration with African countries will be carried out by activating this agreement, as the integration of African industries will make the final product a greater opportunity to compete in European markets, and it will also make the African product an equivalent product to the European product, and  we must to overcome the problem of confidence in the local and African product and capacity-building, through the exchange of experiences between African countries with the African Business Council, the African Bank and the Federation of Industries.

Eng. Essam Al-Naggar added that it is important to give a competitive advantage to products manufactured within the continent, and the availability of all industrial process inputs within the continent has been taken into consideration.

He also reviewed the services and facilities provided by (GOEIC) to exporters to African countries.

It is worth mentioning that the African Business Council is the apex body for the promotion and lobbying of African business interests. Membership of the Council is open to national, regional and continental private sector organizations/associations, and it constitutes an independent private sector institution of the African Union.

The African Business Council is working hard to provide greater support to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by the continental private sector while actively engaging African policy makers in any recommendations and concerns expressed by the sector.

(AfFCTA) also promotes industrialization and competitiveness, contributes to job opportunities and unleashes regional value chains that will facilitate Africa's meaningful integration into the global economy.

About the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement – (AfFCTA):-

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AFFCFTA) is a free trade area that includes in its membership all the African Union countries (55 countries) with the aim of removing customs taxes and non-tariff restrictions in front of the intra-African trade movement, as a result it will create a continental market for all goods and services within the African continent that includes more than one billion people and the size of its gross domestic product exceeds 3 trillion dollars, Which leads to the establishment of the African Customs Union and the application of the unified customs tariff towards the imports of the African continent from abroad, and thus the declaration of the establishment of the United States of Africa in accordance with the decisions of the African Summit, as of February 2019, as it is a trade agreement that brings together the 49 member states of the African Union, it aims to create a single market followed by freedom of movement and a single currency. The African Free Trade Agreement was signed in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018.