By Own Correspondent- President Mnangagwa will join fellow Heads of State and Government here for the Extraordinary African Union Summit (AU) which starts today. The summit, which is running under the theme: “Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to forced displacement in Africa,” will end on July 8. The sub-Saharan country is hosting the African Summit for the first time.
The summit will commence with the 35th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council followed by the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA) before closing with the mid-year coordination meeting of the African Union and Regional Economic Communities.
Zimbabwe is part of more than 20 African countries that are pushing for AfCTFA.
Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr George Charamba said Zimbabwe, as a founding member, will join other African countries in celebrating the birth of a free trade area.
“What we are doing is to celebrate the coming into force of the continental free trade area. There is a benchmark number of countries which have ratified the treaty for it to come into force, end of May.
“Zimbabwe qualify as a founder member of Continental Free Trade Area and that comes after a certain recognition and have privileges, that’s why we are going to Niger,” Mr Charamba said.
He said that the AfCTFA will result in upgrading of trade infrastructure in the region.
“The intention is to recognise that there is a lot that is pending and should be done within the continent by wealth encouraging inter-countries and intra-continental trade except their pre-requisite that are required by way of infrastructure.
“As you know historically, infrastructure in the African continent has always been oriented towards linkages with other continents particularly Europe as a colonial power.
“What we are trying to do as a region is to create infrastructure that allows countries to talk to each other, by way of trade, economic development and by way of people associations,” Mr Charamba said.-StateMedia