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A container ship docked at a port
President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged the private sector to engage with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The trade agreement aims to accelerate trade across the continent and strengthen its position in the global market.
Speaking at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ramaphosa says this partnership will allow for significant economic growth.
📸 His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa joined invited Heads of State and Government at this year’s annual summit of the Africa CEO Forum.
The President participated in a #ACF2025 Presidential Panel titled: “Towards a powerful Africa: The road to economic, political and… pic.twitter.com/tkLR39eHH1
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) May 12, 2025
“It is an engine of growth. Through it, we’d like the private sector to embrace it, to participate in it. Because what it does, it gives the African continent the opportunity to integrate and it gives businesspeople the opportunity to see the 1.4 billion people market on our continent and the GDP of the entire continent adding up to 3.4 trillion dollars.”
The President also says that the African continent must strive for peace especially where there are conflicts.
He says the latest ceasefire agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a right step towards lasting peace on the continent.
Ramaphosa says the withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops in was necessary for laying the foundation of peace talks between the warring factions eastern DRC.
“The processes that had been happening on the continent are the Nairobi process, or the Luanda process, or the AU process, have been very, very essential in building a foundation of peacemaking and also confidence building. Up to and including, agreements that have been reached for a ceasefire between the belligerents, up to and including the withdrawal of say the SADC forces.”
