Zambia Hosts Regional Workshop on Accelerated AfCFTA Implementation
Zambia has reaffirmed its commitment to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), emphasising the agreement as both a domestic development priority and a continental obligation aligned with Africa’s Agenda 2063.
Acting Permanent Secretary in charge of Trade and Commerce, Angelina C. Mukuka, described the AfCFTA as “an ambitious integration initiative key to transforming economies into diversified, industrial, and knowledge-based economies.”
Zambia is hosting a pivotal regional workshop on the Accelerated Implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement from 15 to 17 September 2025 in Lusaka.
The event, convened jointly with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), brings together key stakeholders to chart a roadmap for harnessing the AfCFTA’s transformative potential for Africa’s economic integration and development.
In her keynote address, Mrs Mukuka highlighted projections suggesting that full AfCFTA implementation could lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and increase the continent’s income by US$450 billion by 2035.
She added that intra-African trade could rise by as much as 109 per cent with the elimination of tariffs.
Zambia has already made concrete progress, including gazetting its provisional schedule of tariff concessions, enabling Zambian businesses to trade under AfCFTA preferences.
Priority areas include industrialisation and value-chain development, illustrated by initiatives such as the Zambia-Zimbabwe Common Agro-Industrial Park and collaborations with the Democratic Republic of Congo on electric vehicle value chains.
