Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will hold discussions with the African Union about steps to ensure that a Pan-African and Continental Free Trade Area will be introduced on schedule in 2017.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK supports the vision of an African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) as a key step to supporting African prosperity. We provide capacity building support to the African Union (AU) Commission to strengthen its ability to negotiate and implement trade agreements, including analysis to ensure the potential costs and benefits are fully understood. We will continue to work with the AU to ensure progress towards the CFTA is maintained, and I intend to raise this with AU colleagues at the January AU summit.