(by Antonio Gaspari, frammentidipace.it) On Sunday 7, something happened that could change the world. After two years of negotiations, in Niamey in Niger, during an extraordinary summit of the African Union, 52 Countries on 55 signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (acronym: #AfCFTA), an agreement that will reduce tariffs up to 90 per cent among the countries of the continent. While on the Atlantic route emerging nationalisms impose embargoes, they build walls, raise duties, tear up trade agreements and threaten armed conflicts, Africa finds unity and proposes a free trade zone almost canceling customs tariffs.
From the commercial and geopolitical point of view it is an agreement that places Africa at the center of an epochal change. The divisions between nations and local conflicts mean that, at present, the exchange between African countries reaches just 17% of the total trade. To get an idea of the smallness of this figure, suffice it to say that Asian countries exchange goods for the 60% of the total and that Europe goes up to 70%. With this continental free trade agreement, the impediments that limit the flourishing of intra and extra Africa trade ends. Reducing trade barriers will greatly facilitate and expand trade.
The reduction of the 90 per cent of the duties will allow all economic and civil activities to grow rapidly with immediate benefits, also as regards the fight against poverty and the raising of the quality of life. According to the experts, this is the most important and largest agreement since the World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded in the 1995. It is a historical novelty also because it sees African countries united in a process of liberation from colonial and neocolonial policies, with the aim of ending injustices, harassment, old and new slavery, the exploitation of men and resources.
Africa is the continent with the highest number of young people. The average age of the population, as a whole, does not exceed 18 years, and the large majority has between the 16 and the 28 years. It is the continent richest in raw materials. It has all the raw materials used in the businesses and industries of the world. It is estimated that the 30% of the earth's mineral resources are found in Africa, which has the primacy, among other things, of possessing the world's largest reserves of metals and precious stones, such as gold and diamonds. There is no raw material that Africa does not have. The dominant colonial policies mean that neither the people nor the territory can actually dispose of the proceeds deriving from the sale of resources. In most cases, the raw materials are extracted using child labor, embarked on ships and airplanes, and taken away from Africa. This logic of exploitation means that Africa is also the poorest continent of infrastructure, with a serious lack of roads, ports, railways, schools, hospitals, universities, power plants.
Throughout history, Africa is the continent that has suffered the most exploitation and looting. In the past, tens of millions of people, chosen among the strongest, have been captured and enslaved. Take advantage of it in a cruel way. Deprived of freedom and respect for the most basic human rights. Today we are witnessing new forms of slavery, induced by utilitarian economic logic. For this reason the agreement just signed is an epochal event, because it sees almost all African countries finally united in promoting peace and development.