Member states of the African Continental Free Trade Area concluded their negotiations on rules of origin on Sunday, a move expected to further reduce tariffs on original goods within the African continent. Ebrahim Patel, the chairperson of the African Union Ministers of Trade, told a press briefing that the adopted rules could cover 87.7 percent of goods on the tariff lines of the AU member states. Patel said ‘For ordinary citizens on our continent, this means more jobs, more economic opportunities, and Africa’s opportunity to say we want to industrialize.
