Egypt is looking forward to enhance its cooperation as well as trade interdependence with other countries in the African continent under the leadership of the Egyptian president.
Hence, there are a number of economic and trade agreements that exists towards achieving such goals
Along with establishing a road Cairo and Cape Town, South Africa’s capital city to facilitate the transfer of goods and products between African countries, which was one of the biggest obstacles facing businessmen, importers and exporters.
There is also the road linking Cairo to Dakar in Senegal in West Africa, in addition to a highway that extends across West Africa from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Lagos, Nigeria, as well as the river link project between Alexandria and Lake Victoria, which would make the country a gateway to Central Africa via The Nile River, and other actual projects that aim to link African countries to each other in order to enhance trade and the movement of labor among them.
There are number of trade agreements that link Egypt with 55 African states namely:
COMESA
The first agreement that came to any one mind when mentioning the continent most prominent trade deals is the COMESA, the Common Market Agreement for Eastern and Southern Africa, as a preferential trade area that aims to establish a free trade area between member states to become a customs union, and then a common market.
Egypt became a member of COMESA in 1998 along with 19 active member states. On the other hand, Egypt, as a member of COMESA, exempts goods and products bearing COMESA certificates of origin completely from customs duties and any other fees and taxes of similar effect.
Customs exemptions are applied to all imports of goods originating from member states with an added value of up to 45 percent.
African Continental Free Trade Agreement:
In March 2018, after two years of continuous negotiations, African Heads of State and Government signed in Kigali, Rwanda, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which is the largest trade agreement in the world, and it entered into force on May 30, 2019 with the ratification of 22 countries, where Egypt was among the first countries that signed and ratified this convention.
Perhaps the most prominent feature of this agreement is its comprehensiveness and depth in liberalization among African countries in the areas of trade in goods and services.
Egypt also seeks to benefit itself from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement since the agreement opens the African market in front of Egyptian products, given its competitive prices compared to the prices of Indian and Chinese products, in addition to the entry of Egyptian products to African countries without customs in light of Cairo’s attempts to overcome obstacles to accessing some markets on the continent, including those of landlocked countries.
However, in order to achieve the real benefit from ACFTA agreement, an urgent plan is required to increase Egyptian exports to the African market, while activating the role of joint business councils with the countries of the continent, requiring investment in infrastructure and linkage between the countries of the continent through railways, land roads and river corridors, in order to enhance trade exchange between them.
