It is increasingly evident that leaving the European Union – the world’s richest single market – was a monumental act of self-harm for the UK. African countries should take heed and cooperate to ensure the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA, argues Lord Peter Hain.
A long-standing commercial truth is that it’s optimal to trade with those closest to you. It’s common sense really – the costs of moving goods are lower, synergies are better, the economies of scale kick in and so on. Africa, for example, is banking a great deal on the benefits that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will bring to growth and prosperity.
Yet by lurching into Brexit, the UK’s Conservative government has defied all that by turning the country away from the biggest, richest single market in the world; one with whom we have had fully half our trade for decades.
And it’s turned out to be what many of us predicted at the time of the…
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