Amb. Chiedu Osakwe, Director-General of NOTN
Preparatory to the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN), has introduced that an anti-dumping rule has been negotiated, as half of protectionist measures to avert dumping of items within the nation.
The Director General, NOTN, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, stated his workplace has additionally gone ahead to barter counter failing duties, world safeguard agreements on the annex of guidelines of origin that may help regulators and negotiators mitigate commerce dangers.
The Director General, at a stakeholders sensitization and session on the settlement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), stated: “The African continental free commerce space would set up a single marketplace for buying and selling items and companies though there are dangers that may be tried to tranship or dump within the African market, not restricted to Nigeria alone.
“But let me state here that all markets carry risks, but what we have done is that we have negotiated certain rules and trade remedy for anti-dumping and counter failing duties, global safeguards agreements on the annex of rules of origin that will assist the regulatory agencies and negotiators to mitigate these risks.”
According to him, Nigeria has the whole lot to realize and little or no to lose if it will get its implementation and coordination mechanisms proper.In his phrases: “One of the messages we got from all the six geo political zones is that we must put on a better and proper implementation hat and that the regulatory agencies in charge of goods and services, standards for export and imports would have to step up their game.”
He identified that Africa is the following main market alternative within the world economic system, stressing that in keeping with reviews, the settlement establishing the African continental free commerce space will generate a GDP worth for Africa of effectively over $25 trillion by 2050.He added, “Part of the challenge or opportunity of the agreement establishing the African free trade area is that the risk of dumping is an acknowledgement actually by the global economy that the next trading frontier is in Africa, many other regions of the world are stuck with low growth, but where growth is happening is actually in the African continent and Nigeria stands as a good example”.
He said that the settlement establishing the African continental free commerce space will cowl a market of 1.5 billion Africans in 2018, saying that going ahead in 2050, it might cowl 4 billion Africans which represents 36 per cent of the worldwide inhabitants
Earlier, the president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Babatunde Ruwase, stated AfCFTA gives a potential of being the most important free commerce space on the planet and would create a single continental marketplace for items and companies as effectively ease free motion of folks within the continent.
He stated Nigeria has a lot to realize, however confused that the decay within the nation’s infrastructure has made Nigeria uncompetitive.“I see no reason why we should be scared of signing the agreement, all we need to do is get our acts right. It is therefore critical to deepen consultations in order to carry the private sector along,” he stated.