Hanoi(VNA) – Vietnamese exports to Africa have faced price-related challenges asthey have to compete with other African nations in terms of import tax, giventhe fact there is no free trade agreement or preferential trade agreementbetween Vietnam and regional countries.

According to theVietnamese Commercial Affairs Office in South Africa, 44 African nationsofficially sealed a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement during thetenth extraordinary session of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, lastMarch.

The deal will comeinto force within 180 days after at least 22 countries approve it.

The agreement hasgiven birth to the world’s largest free trade area in terms of the number ofparticipating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation in1948.  It can create a single market witha population of 1.2 billion and GDP of 2.5 trillion USD.

Under the pact,the signatories committed to remove tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods.

The agreement willaddress seven priority areas related to trade: policy, infrastructure, finance,information, market integration, productivity increase and trade facilitation.

Experts said thedeal is expected to drive up intra-Africa trade by about 52 percent by 2022, ascompared with 2010. The exchange of industrial products is also projected toexpand by 53 percent.

The Vietnameseoffice said the CFTA helps cut commercial costs and enable African consumers toaccess diverse products with lower prices.

Lower costs ofproduction materials exchanged between CFTA member countries would raisecompetitiveness of local producers and help create regional value chains, theoffice said.

Pointing out pricechallenges for Vietnamese exports to Africa, the office suggested Vietnamesebusinesses make use of benefits brought about by the pact, which will turnAfrica into a busier and more promising area for commercial activities.

Hoang Oanh, headof the Department of Asia-Africa Markets under the Ministry of Industry andTrade, said Vietnamese firms should pay more attention to markets like Algeria,Egypt, South Africa and Angola, and products like rice, coffee, pepper,seafood, household electric products, garments-textiles and machines foragriculture and garment-textile.

With a 1.2 billionpopulation, the region’s demand for rice is expected to sharply increase, shesaid, explaining that rice production costs more than imports in Africancountries as they have to invest much in irrigation.

Besides, they havemet difficulties in ensuring food security since the regional population isgrowing faster than the pace of agricultural production.

Additionally, thenumber of mobile phone subscribers in Africa increases the fastest in theworld, she said, describing this as a great opportunity for Vietnamesetelecommunications firms. - VNA