AfCFTA touts 'unprecedented' opportunities

"Forty-two out of 55 countries last year were either in a full or partial lockdown, which meant that there was no goods movement across borders. The impact was very, very significant. That is why we have been saying that in order for Africa to expedite the recovery, we have to implement this agreement quite aggressively," he added.

Boosting intra-African trade "becomes the driver for Africa's recovery," said Mene. "This is the only path that we see for Africa's collective recovery post COVID-19."

Noting that some countries around the world have significant stimulus packages and economic recovery interventions, with very few countries on the African continent able to follow suit, the AfCFTA head said that it is important that "we leverage on the tool that we have. And that tool, in my view, is the African Continental Free Trade Area and its potential for boosting intra-African trade post COVID-19."

Mene said that typical trade agreements focus only on commerce, trade and investment, and they usually benefit big corporations.

"We want to fundamentally change that. We have to take direct interventions that will act in a way that affirms the role of young people and women in trade and other development-oriented approaches, such as in industrial development and intellectual property rights," said the AfCFTA chief.

Not only does the international community have high expectations regarding AfCFTA, "we ourselves, as Africans, have high expectations, and we are determined to meet those high expectations", Mene said.