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Rwanda exported its first consignment of goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to Ghana on Friday, 30 September 2022.
The first shipment of coffee from Igire Coffee Limited was transported to Accra by the national carrier, RwandAir, marking the official start of preferential trade under the AfCFTA implementation agreement.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry said, "The first AfCFTA Certificate of Origin for Rwanda was issued to Igire Coffee for coffee products destined for Ghana under the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative."
This is the start of increased intra-African trade. Rwanda is one of seven countries selected to participate in the pilot phase of AfCFTA's Guided Trade Initiative.
Igire Coffee is a women-owned coffee processing company that markets premium coffee and, according to its President, Briggette Harrington, the AfCFTA will benefit Rwanda enormously as it is designed to safeguard trade between Africa.
"We will not continue to depend on Western countries that continue to take Africa's raw materials and natural resources, leaving the continent destitute. We have to reverse this trend," Harrington told the New Times.
When she founded Igire Coffee, she began collecting coffee from women's cooperatives, processing it, and exporting it to Ghana.
She made sure that the profits went back to the women farmers. "Western companies used to come here and buy a kilo of coffee for, let's say, 5 US dollars.
They took it, processed it, packaged it, and brought it back, selling it for 45 US dollars. Yet the women who planted, tilted, washed, and dried the coffee here did most of the work and received the least pay. That's what we have to change," said Harrington.
She gave the example of cocoa in Ghana, which until recently only benefited Western countries that processed it into chocolate, but recently Africa has started to process it, leading to an increase in domestic revenues.
With AfCFTA, traders benefit from reduced tariffs between members, with policy areas such as trade facilitation and services covered.
"We will be able to export processed products. I urge the authorities to also start exporting tea to Africa under the AfCFTA. I have also proposed to the National Agricultural Export Development Council that, by next year, it should propose a policy whereby at least 25% of coffee exported is entirely processed locally, and that this percentage should gradually increase with a view to having 80% of Rwandan coffee processed locally," said Harrington.
( Credit: leconomistedutogo.tg )