Namibia to send first consignment through AfCFTA

Namibia will be sending its first trade consignment through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in October.

This was announced by industrialisation and trade minister Lucia Iipumbu during a Cabinet committee briefing on Thursday.

According to Iipumbu, this is after Namibia’s tariff offer under the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) was approved by the AfCFTA

“We are currently in the process of preparing to participate in the guided trade initiative, whereby we will send off the first consignment for Namibia under the AfCFTA in October 2024 to signify the commencement of trading under the AfCFTA,” said Iipumbu.

The AfCFTA is an initiative of the African Union (AU) which aims to create a single market for goods and services across the continent.

The agreement commits AU member states to remove tariffs on 90% of goods, with 10% of sensitive items to be phased in later.

“It also liberalises services and aims to tackle non-tariff barriers which hamper trade between African countries, such as long delays at the border,” said Iipumbu.

Iipumbu added that the goal is to have free movement of people and even a single currency.

Moreover Namibia will benefit from a vast market of over 1,3 billion people through the AfCFTA.

Iipumbu said Namibia is also actively working to enhance its domestic production capacity to meet the growing demand for goods and services within the AfCFTA.

“Namibia is ready to tap into a single market of about 1,3 billion people, while growing at home and industrialising the local economy to produce goods and services with which to trade,” said Iipumbu.

She added that to a large extent, the Sacu tariff offer is in the process of gazettement by the Namibia Revenue Agency.

“The ministry has put in place the requisite legal and regulatory building blocks to fully industrialise Namibia; to strengthen its trade both locally, regionally, continentally and globally; and to vigorously enable small and medium enterprises to develop and flourish,” Iipumbu added.