The Mozambican government will by June 30 deliver the list of products and services that it will exempt from customs duties, as part of the process of joining the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).“The work has already been completed and we will submit our tariff offer to the AfCFTA Secretariat by June 30,” said the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Silvino Moreno, quoted today by Noticias, the state-run daily with the largest circulation in Mozambique.“We have already deposited the agreement ratified by the Assembly of the Republic at the African Union secretariat,” Moreno explained. “What was missing was the tariff offer”.The minister explained that the document still to be delivered to the AfCFTA lists the prices of products and services that Mozambique will place on the market and exempt from customs fees, under the terms of the treaty.“We have enormous agricultural potential. We can supply cashew nuts, cotton, shrimp and other products that are currently destined for Europe,” the Minister of Industry and Commerce said.After depositing the instrument, the agreement will be disclosed to the domestic private sector so that it can take advantage of the treaty, Minister Moreno continued.According to a report by the World Bank, the AfCFTA agreement will create “the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating”, with the potential to “lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035”, should “significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures” be put in place.“Creation of the vast AfCFTA regional market is a major opportunity to help African countries diversify their exports, accelerate growth, and attract foreign direct investment,” the World Bank report, entitled “The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects’, says. (ICE MAPUTO)

Fonte notizia: LUSA