Present on Gabonese territory since Monday 10 May 2021, South African Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), took the opportunity to meet local stakeholders in this ambitious project. After meeting Prime Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka a day earlier, he visited the headquarters of the one-stop investment shop on 11 May 2021. This was an opportunity for him to exchange views with the Minister in charge of investment promotion, Carmen Ndaot, representing the Minister of Commerce, Hugues Mbadinga Madiya, who was unable to attend, and the Director General of Commerce, Jean François Yanda.
The working session held on Tuesday May 11 at the headquarters of the High Council for Investment (HCI) was an opportunity to quantify the efforts made by the Gabonese authorities, with the focus on the participation of the private sector in the AfCFTA implementation process, and on the involvement of the private sector. With the Minister for Investment Promotion, Carmen Ndaot, and the Director General of Trade, Jean François Yanda, Wamkele Keabetswe Mene was able to measure the progress made in terms of ownership of this project.
The AfCFTA, which has been in force since 01 January of this year and should deliver a significant trade benefits to Gabon and the other signatory countries, is continuing to be implemented through national consultations, trade and services mapping, and the adoption and approval of standards. In this respect, no fewer than 371 of the 494 mandatory standards have already been adopted.
Generating real enthusiasm, particularly because of the prospect of Gabon improving its level of growth while at the same time having ‘a lever for development’, as Carmen Ndaot pointed out, the operationalisation of this free trade area, which provides for the elimination of customs duties on 90 tariff lines over a well-defined period, should also make it possible to ‘contribute to efforts to transform the structure of our economies’.
Congratulating Gabon on its first significant advances, Wamkele Mene, aware of the “many obstacles still to be overcome”, nevertheless stressed the need to “step up dialogue with both public and private partners”. All of which, as the Minister for Investment Promotion pointed out, “could ultimately support the emergence of a strong national private sector”. The meeting was attended by Ghislain Moandza Mboma, Director General of the National Investment Promotion Agency (ANPI), Andrew Gwodog, 5th Vice-President of the Gabonese Employers' Confederation (CPG) in charge of social affairs, and Abdu Razzaq Guy Kambogo, Director of Aganor.
By Ladji Nze Diakité
Gabon Media Time