AfCFTA signs $3.1B deal to deploy new customs system

The African Continental Free Trade Area signed a $3.1 billion deal with Nigerian company Bergmans Security Consultants to deploy a customs system aimed at improving trade in Africa. Trading under the AfCFTA — the world’s largest free-trade area — started in 2021. Intra-Africa trade has grown since then, rising by 12.5% from 2023 to $220 billion in 2024. But African trade analysts say the pact’s impact remains constrained by several structural and operational challenges. AfCFTA is tasking the Abuja-based Bergmans with creating a system that will make the customs units of member countries interoperable, the trade area’s Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said at the deal’s signing last week.