Reuters | 13 February 2020

S.Africa plans summit to finalise continental free trade agreement

CAPE TOWN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - South Africa will in May hold an extraordinary summit of the African Union to finalise a continental free trade agreement, President Cyril Ramaphosa told Parliament on Thursday.

Ramaphosa said the meeting would finalise rules defining what goods are made in Africa and which tariffs would be removed in the next five years. This follows the launch of a continental free-trade zone last July, that if successful, would unite 1.3 billion people and create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf, Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe)