Most AU member states have signed the agreement. Benin, Botswana, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Zambia did not sign the agreement. [63] Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was particularly reluctant to join if it against Nigerian entrepreneurship and Nigerian industry. [64] On 7 July 2019, Nigeria and Benin pledged to sign free trade with Africa at the 12th Special Session of the Association`s Assembly on ACFTA; Eritrea is the only country among the 55 member states of the African Union that has not signed the agreement. [65] [66] [41] The EPA contributes to the improvement of the business climate between partners by providing businesses with a stable and forward-looking framework in South Africa and the entire South African region. It contributes to the promotion of bilateral and regional trade and thus offers new opportunities to achieve the objectives of the strategic partnership between South Africa and the EU. As part of government policy, the South African government is seeking to further open its market in order to increase trade and develop more competitive domestic industries. However, in 2006, the South African government made exceptions to this approach to protect the labour-intensive apparel industry. During 2020, the South African authorities took emergency measures to limit all goods and people traffic as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic; These have been partially removed. South Africa signed a major free trade agreement with the European Union in 1999. This agreement not only had a lasting effect on South Africa itself, but also set the conditions for stronger EU (and EFTA) action to get African nations to commit to greater trade and investment policy liberalization over the next decade, notably through the EPA negotiation process between the EU and ACP countries. What complicates matters further is that Africa was already divided into eight separate free trade zones and/or union unions, with different regulations. [Note 1] These regional bodies will continue to exist; The African Continental Free Trade Agreement aims firstly to remove barriers to trade between the various pillars of the African Economic Community and, finally, to use these regional organizations as building blocks of the ultimate goal of an African-wide customs union.
[21] [30] [31] [32] South Africa has signed numerous agreements with its trading partners in recent years.