The Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Liberata Mulamula, who had earlier stated that they were awaiting Parliament to approve the agreement during the commemoration of African Day, has echoed this.

In the EAC region, Tanzania and Burundi are the only EAC countries that have not ratified the agreement, making it difficult for other EAC countries to proceed with the AfCFTA implementation since the EAC operates as a Customs union with a Common External Tariff.

With Tanzania in the final stages of ratifying the agreement, all African countries will do business without restriction. And it would be an opportunity to develop Tanzania’s industries and sell value-added products across Africa instead of solely relying on imports.