A united Africa may give China its moment to shine "The launch of the AfCFTA breaks new grounds for China-Africa cooperation,'' said Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for the Chinese minister of foreign affairs. Beijing, he said, will continue investing in "infrastructure connectivity, trade facilities and industrial promotion" under the country's Belt and Road Initiative. ........ In 2018, US-Africa trade shrank to $61bn, barely 45 percent of its 2008 value. During the same period, the value of trade between China and Africa exceeded $200bn, and projections suggest it is still growing. ........ On July 1, 2020, most AfCFTA-ratifying countries will start removing customs tariffs on 90 percent of imported goods that were made in Africa, with the aim of removing them completely before 2035. ..... Kituyi worries that
a recent move by the administration of US President Donald Trump to restart "bilateral agreements with African countries" works against African's effort to build a common market
. If the US would "change their position and embrace negotiating with the continent as a whole, we'll have grounds to celebrate", the UN official said. ........ Rwanda's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Richard Sezibera, said he would also welcome "negotiated agreements with the US, such as those we're conducting with Europe". ....... ....2016, when Rwandan President Paul Kagame raised taxes on Western-imported second-hand clothes, prompting the US to raise its tariffs on Rwandan imports. .......Rwanda, Sezibera stressed, "is the second-best place to do business in Africa and the 29th in the world according to the World Bank".
...... But the free trade zone, she said, "motivates us to strengthen the peace process, so that we might regain control over all our territory and trigger our full economic potential, especially in agriculture, which employs 75 percent of our labour force and needs to become more productive".
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