The instruments were presented to Mahamat by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, cooperation and East African Community Affairs, Louise Mushikiwabo.
Rwanda becomes the third member state to ratify the AfCFTA, after Ghana and Kenya; and the first to do so as far as the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport is concerned.
Mahamat commended Rwanda for the important step, which he described as a further illustration of its leaders’ commitment to the goals and ideals of the African Union.
He urged the member states yet to do so to take the required steps to become parties to both the AfCFTA and the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and the African Passport.
The Continental Free Trade Area is a continent-wide free-trade agreement brokered by the African Union and was signed by 44 of its 55 member states in Kigali on March 21, 2018.
The agreement initially requires members to remove tariffs from 90% of goods, allowing free access to commodities, goods, and services across the continent.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the agreement will boost intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022.The proposal will come into force after ratification by 22 of the signatory states.
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