By Kalata News,
Luanda, Angola, March 11, 2024 – ANGOLA has finally domesticated the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) signed in 2016 with Zambia, paving a way for trade between the two nations to earnestly begin.
The BTA was followed by signing of an Addendum to the BTA in April, 2022 which brought about consensus on Article VI which deal with market liberalization and thus unlocking trade opportunities for over 150 agreed list of products to be imported at a preferential rate in the two countries.
The two countries have 25 MoUs across many sectors among them petroleum sector, infrastructure development, transport sector, Agriculture, space sciences and technology, health, defense and security.
Following signing of the BTA, Angola could, however, not immediately proceed to implement the Agreement, as there was need to domesticate it through an enabling legislation. The domestication process has since been completed, and this development signals readiness of both countries to commence trading on new preferential terms. Zambia was first to domesticate the Agreement.
This was communicated to the Zambian delegation at the on-going Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers Meeting being held in Luanda Angola when Mrs. Lillian Bwalya, Permanent Secretary – Trade and Commerce paid a courtesy call on Hon. Augusta de Carvalho Gando Frederico Forte, Secretary of State for Commerce of Angola.
Mrs Bwalya expressed happiness that the two countries had overcome the legal related bottlenecks and that the time was opportune for the two parties to start intensifying efforts aimed at creating mutually beneficial commercial and investment partnerships and encouraged the business community to begin focusing their efforts towards exploiting the two markets.
Zambia with an underperforming manufacturing and agricultural sectors towards its growth domestic product (GDP) and unemployment rate of close to 70%, the country would be using this Angolan market to sell its agricultural and manufactured products.
Zambia would also be eyeing trade routes provided by the Angolan ports to access cheaper imports and have Zambian goods and service alternatively exported via Angola.
Construction of Zambian rails into Angola via the mining towns of Northwestern province will also be a game changer in how mining products are exported outside Zambia.
