Ethiopia has formally begun trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), joining 24 other nations participating in the bloc’s Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), with its inaugural shipments dispatched to Kenya, Somalia, and South Africa.
The move marks a milestone for the Horn of Africa nation, which signed the trade agreement in 2018 and has since worked to align its systems with continental trade protocols. The development follows Namibia’s entry into the zone in July, when it shipped 45,000 tonnes of salt to Nigeria.
Ethiopia’s first consignments were flagged off on Thursday at the Ethiopian Airlines Cargo Terminal in Addis Ababa. According to the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, the exported items included meat, vegetables, fruits, and khat to Somalia; white and red beans and coffee to South Africa; and maize and bean products to Kenya.
The country’s Trade Minister Yasmin Wohabreb described the launch as the start of the East African nation’s full integration into regional trade flows and expressed optimism that participation would significantly expand the country’s export base.
Wohabreb said Ethiopia is also eyeing Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Malawi, Cameroon, and Egypt for trade on a reciprocal basis.
The event was attended by senior government officials, ambassadors, exporters, and representatives from the AfCFTA Secretariat, including Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, who confirmed the number of countries currently operating within the framework.
Growing momentum
The latest round of shipments symbolised growing momentum for the GTI, a pilot scheme launched in 2022 to allow selected countries to test the readiness of customs, logistics, and payment systems before full-scale implementation.
Initially involving ten countries including Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, and South Africa, the GTI has now expanded to 25 participants. Its goal is to translate AfCFTA’s commitments into tangible trade, providing a framework for early movers to exchange goods under preferential terms while ironing out operational bottlenecks.
Mene, who announced Ethiopia’s inclusion during a meeting in Nairobi, said more African nations are making progress toward realising the bloc’s ambitions. “More needs to be done to build the economic self-sufficiency of our continent by creating a truly viable domestic market in Africa through the AfCFTA. No country should be left behind,” he said.
The World Bank says the AfCFTA has the potential to become the world’s largest trade area, connecting 1.3 billion people across 54 countries into a single market valued at $3.4 trillion. By progressively eliminating tariffs on nearly all traded goods and easing restrictions on services, the initiative is moving steadily toward that goal.
Analysts say Ethiopia’s participation, alongside Namibia’s recent entry, signals a strengthening commitment to intra-African trade and industrial diversification, even as operational challenges persist.
