Malawi joins AfCFTA initiative, starts trading

Malawi has expressed interest to join the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) following the resubmission of its revised market access offer to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.

GTI is a pilot initiative to accelerate trading by enabling commercially meaningful trading and test the operational, institutional, legal and trade policy environment under the AfCFTA market that embraces 54 countries with 1.3 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of $3.4 trillion.

Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Mayeso Msokera confirmed the development on Monday, saying AfCFTA secretariat has already advised that the GTI Mission to Malawi will take place from December 3 2023.

He said: “Malawi received comments from the secretariat on the initial offer which has since been revised and resubmitted for adoption by the Council of Ministers.

“The adoption of the offer will unlock a number of opportunities, including Malawi’s participation in the GTI.”

Msokera said through a schedule of specific commitments adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2022, government committed to liberalise business, financial, communication, tourism and transport.

According to AfCFTA, the legal basis for the implementation of the GTI is the ministerial directive on the application of Provisional Schedules of Tariffs Concession issued on October 10 2021, which provides the basis for the start of commercially meaningful trade under the AfCFTA preferential rules.

Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Chancellor Kaferapanjira is on record as having said that the major source of competitiveness is electricity, which the industry does not have, rendering the country uncompetitive.

Currently, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania and Tunisia are participating in the GTI and the AfCFTA secretariat is supporting them in trading from shipment to customs clearing.

This presents an opportunity to monitor the impact of trade documents and procedures on pre-selected goods to get a sense of if tariffs are reduced in line with AfCFTA procedures.