BY DELISA THWALA
EZULWINI– Organised by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)Secretariat, COMESA Business Council, European Union, International Trade Centre and Business Eswatini seeks to improve businesses in Eswatini.
The stakeholders today, launched a three-day workshop, the objective of this very important workshop is to empower businesses with the key market information they require for them to identify and compare emerging opportunities across the African continent.
The African Trade Observatory has produced modules which provide a range of real-time indicators on trade flows, utilization of AfCFTA tariff preferences, tax revenues, clearance time and trade simulations, thereby facilitating the evaluation of the implementation process and impact of the AfCFTA.
Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer Nathi E. Dlamini said their gratitude goes to the EU for availing financial support through the COMESA Secretariat’s Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP), funded by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
He is inarguably, the training comes at a critical juncture for Eswatini businesses where the AfCFTA is gaining momentum.
Dlamini said this was a clarion call to all local businesses, especially infant industries, to ready themselves for the competitive onslaught from the African continent.
“They need to quickly learn to hold their own by being innovative and efficient, to be export-competitive. With the rapid pace of change that we see, time is certainly not on our side.
“As Business Eswatini, we hope that the delegates here will leverage this resourceful training in order to gain new insights which will add value to their businesses. By doing so, we hope that, as the private sector.
“We can contribute in advancing the country’s economic development agenda by exploiting our export potential which, in turn, will create the jobs desperately needed by this country as well as national wealth,” said Dlamini.
For smaller businesses, they will gain market insights on which markets to explore and the products they could potentially venture into. Current exporters from medium enterprises will obtain market insights on the diversification possibilities of both their markets and products within the African region, and beyond.
Meanwhile, Cebile Nhlabatsi the Acting Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Commerce, Industry said The Kingdom of Eswatini as a Member of the African Union AU) signed the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on the 21st March 2018 during the Summit of Heads of State and Government, which was held in Kigali, Rwanda.
She said Eswatini ratified the Agreement during the same year, which qualifies the country to benefit from any preferential market access within the AfCFTA. “The AfCFTA Agreement came into force on May 30, 2019, with the start of trading to commence on January 1, 2021; however, no trade has as yet taken place under the AfCFTA regime. As of March 2023, 47 of the 54 signatories to the agreement 81 percent have deposited their instruments of ratification,” she said.
