The Ministry of Trade and Industry has said Malawi is earmarked to join trading of goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)-guided trade initiative by January next year.
This follows the conclusion of reviews of the Malawi tariff offer after the initial submission was rejected due to technical amendments.
In an interview, Ministry of Trade spokesperson Mayeso Msokera said the revision of the offer has been done with technical support from the AfCFTA.
He indicated that a team of experts from the secretariat came into the country two weeks ago and finalised the review.
“At the moment, we have scheduled a validation meeting to validate changes in the offer with the private sector because they are the main stakeholder. Afterwards, we will submit it to the secretariat for adoption.
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“Once this is adopted, Malawi will move a step forward to join the guided trade initiative. This is an initiative that the secretariat set up to provide support to countries that have finalised development of their offers and try to match their interest,” Msokera said.
In a recent interview, South Africa-based Trade Law Centre Executive Director Trudi Hartzenberg said the guided trade initiative is currently only for 96 products which have agreed rules of origin and, of course, that are of trade interest to the participating countries.
“The initiative was launched to test the operational instruments of the AfCFTA such as the rules of origin and other certificates and to monitor implementation and any challenges encountered at border posts.
“Discussions to expand the initiative are underway,” Hartzenberg said.
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The guided trade initiative was launched on October 7 2022.
