MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AfCFTA IN CENTRAL AFRICA: THE DRC, THROUGH ITS MINISTER FOR FOREIGN TRADE, JULIEN PALUKU KAHONGYA, CALLS FOR POLITICAL WILL AMONG THE STATES OF THE SUBREGION
Speaking on Thursday 22 October 2026 in Brazzaville at the second day of the SA ZLECAF regional conference, which focused on the active involvement of women and young people in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF),
the Minister for Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya, speaking on behalf of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, called for political will on the part of states and the involvement of finance ministers in the process of domesticating tariff concessions, thereby accelerating the effective implementation of the ZLECAF.
On the same occasion, he called on member states and technical and financial partners to step up efforts to raise awareness of the benefits offered by the AfCFTA as part of the promotion of intra-African trade.
Thanks to proactive economic and trade diplomacy led by the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has just been awarded the organisation of the next SA AfCFTA regional conference, which aims to stimulate trade in goods and services, as well as entrepreneurship amongst women and young people in Central Africa.
For their part, the Trade Ministers of Congo-Brazzaville, Angola, Chad and Equatorial Guinea emphasised the need to digitise trade procedures in order to reduce costs and processing times, as well as administrative barriers, and to modernise infrastructure to facilitate trade in the sub-region.
It is worth noting that the panels were in attendance for this second day.
