The Deputy Minister of Department of Trade and Industry, Ms Thandi Tobias-Pokolo will attend the African Union’s seventh Ordinary Conference of Ministers of Trade that will take place in Accra, Ghana from today 1-3 December 2011.
The conference is a forerunner to the 2012 African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government which will be focusing on the theme of “Boosting Intra-Africa Trade”. The theme was a recommendation of the 6th Ordinary Session of the AU Ministers of Trade held in Kigali, Rwanda, last year to fast-track the establishment of a Pan-African Free Trade.
The ministers’ discussions will be dominated by the issues pertaining to Africa’s overall trade flows and the potential for boosting intra-African trade by addressing key priority areas for moving the agenda forward. The priority areas will form the main elements of an action plan that member states will be implementing in order to enhance the level of intra-African trade from current levels of about 13 percent to 25 percent or more within the next decade, and thereby make intra-African trade an important driver of development and regional integration in Africa as is the case in other regions of the world such as the European Union and Asia.
The establishment of a continental free trade agreement will lead to a significant growth of intra-Africa trade and assist Africa to use trade more effectively as an engine of growth and sustainable development.
For interviews:
Tsepiso Khoathela
Cell: 071 361 3916
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
