Familiarise yourself with the rules of origin for a successful AFCFTA- Expert

Unami Tlhole, an expert in Trade Rules of Origin, has said. It is important for business owners to familiarize themselves with the rules of origin as part of the process to ensure a successful role out of the African Continental free trade Area(AfCFTA) initiative,

Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product. Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports.

Madam Tlhole explained at a webinar organized by the AfCfTA Policy Network in collaboration with the Bank of Africa, Ghana on Saturday February 20 that it was important for all and sundry to know the product and goods that qualify to be noted as AfCfTA goods.

“It is really important for business people, for the industries, for us the officials who are administering the rules of origin to understand and know-how goods get to qualify to be known as the AfCfTA product,” she told the gathering.

For his part, Dr Francis Mageni, Head of Programmes at the AfCfTA Secretariat, has said production on the African continent must be the focus following the commencement of the AfCFTA initiative.

Dr Mageni explained that Africa is a huge market for African and diaspora investors. This situation therefore, makes its mandatory to prioritize production to the feed the market, he said.