The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has signed an agreement with digital technology company QUEST Ghana to establish and operationalise the AfCFTA Digital Trade Corridor (ADTC), a digital platform designed to facilitate seamless intra-African trade and strengthen economic integration across the continent.
The agreement is expected to establish a joint venture to run the AfCFTA Digital Trade Corridor, hosted in Seychelles, to facilitate and track cross-border trade transactions in compliance with AfCFTA rules.
The joint venture is also expected to provide the digital infrastructure and logistics needed to support cross-border commerce, including payment systems and an African minerals and commodities exchange.
The parties are expected to deploy the solutions in phases, beginning with a pilot involving five to eight African countries, before expanding the platform across the continent to enable businesses, farmers, informal traders and other economic actors to access the African market.
The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, appended his signature for the organisation while the Executive Chairman of QUEST Ghana, Philip Gamey, signed for his firm.
The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Investment of Seychelles, Pierre Laporte, and other officials from Ghana and other countries witnessed the signing.
Digital economy push
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Accra last Monday, Mr Mene said the AfCFTA had helped countries take advantage of expanded markets and investment destinations, with significant value-added production taking place across the continent.
He said the development of Africa’s digital economy was critical to driving the continent’s economic transformation by creating opportunities for SMEs, young entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers to access markets across Africa.
Mr Mene said projections by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) indicated that Africa’s combined digital economy was expected to reach $712 billion by 2035, making it imperative for the continent to move from policy commitments to concrete action.
He said the AfCFTA Digital Trade Corridor would be the first integrated continental digital trade initiative of its kind, designed to facilitate and track cross-border transactions in compliance with AfCFTA rules while creating a more connected trading environment.
He stressed that the initiative would help retain more revenues in Africa by enabling payments to take place within the continent using local currencies, while strengthening Africa’s capacity to compete globally in the digital economy.
The initiative would also help reduce the barriers and inefficiencies that had historically constrained intra-African trade, Mr Mene added.
Let’s be market creator
For his part, Mr Gamey said the initiative was intended to help Africa move beyond fragmented trade systems and take greater ownership of its economic resources and transactions.
He said the digital corridor would support the development of a continent-wide minerals and commodities exchange, as well as borderless payment systems that would allow transactions to be settled in local currencies without relying on external intermediaries.
“We want to be able to take ownership of Africa and make sure that the value and wealth remain on the continent,” Mr Gamey said.
Seychelles’ Minister of Finance said his country had demonstrated its commitment to the AfCFTA Digital Trade Corridor by securing Cabinet approval and earmarking land for the construction of its headquarters.
Mr Laporte said Seychelles would also provide the incentives and support required to ensure the smooth implementation of the initiative and position the country as a key financial and digital trade hub.
“We believe deeply in this project’s potential to transform our continent’s trade,” he said.
