ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) strongly necessitates inclusiveness to fulfill its potential benefits from the production and trade expansion sectors, a senior United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) official said on Tuesday.
"The AfCFTA will only live up to its potential if the benefits from production and trade expansion are inclusive and shared equally," said David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) at the ECA on Tuesday.
"To advance the promotion of gender equality as one of the general objectives of the AfCFTA Agreement, there needs to be a deliberate effort to integrate a gender-sensitive approach to AfCFTA implementation through national strategies," Luke added.
The ECA, in an effort to enhance the knowledge of policymakers and other key stakeholders on how to advance gender-equal outcomes in the continental free trade pact, has organized a virtual continental session themed "A Guide to Gender Mainstreaming in National AfCFTA Strategies" in partnership with the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP).
The virtual session, which runs for four-weeks starting from Tuesday, envisaged assisting policymakers and practitioners in the design of targeted gender-responsive policies and complementary measures to ensure that women can leverage new opportunities and benefits of the AfCFTA.
The virtual training session attracted more than 200 participants from African governments, the private sector and civil society, particularly women's organizations, and development partners, according to the ECA.
The AfCFTA, which was launched in March 2018 in Kigali, capital of Rwanda envisaging a long-standing goal of creating a unified continental market, has so far garnered 54 signatories, offering a new hope and continental exhilaration in terms of boosting intra-African trade, and eventually augmenting Africa's development and industrialization.
Once operational, the African free trade accord has the potential of boosting the level of intra-Africa trade by more than 52 percent by the year 2022, according to the UNECA. Enditem
