The AFCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce, China, sign an MOU to establish an Expert Group on Economic Cooperation

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Mr. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), during a virtual event, signed an MOU with Mr. Qian Keming, Vice Minister of Commerce, China, to establish an Expert Group on economic cooperation.

The signing of the MOU between the AFCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce, China, is to collaborate in areas such as, experience-sharing on intellectual property rights, customs procedures, digital trade, competition policy and exchange concepts, policies and share progress on the institutional capacity, and implementation of the AFCFTA.

According to Mr. Wamkele Mene, “China is a strong partner to Africa and has provided Africa with significant development and investment support over the past decade.” He also added that, “china continues to invest in infrastructure and industrial projects in Africa via Belts and Road initiative, and has opened up its market of 1.4 billion consumers to African products.

Mr. Wamkele Mene stated that china had been actively involved in the work of the secretariat and provided financial assistance through the African Union to the Secretariat since he was elected into office as the Secretary –General of the AfCFTA Secretariat in 2020.

He said the signing of this memorandum will make way for a stronger and established partnership between the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Ministry of Commerce, China.