AfCFTA secretariat partners AFRICA 24 news channel to shape trade narratives

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the AFRICA 24 news Channel headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya to shape trade narratives on the continent.

The agreement is part of a broader strategy to help Africans own and shape the narrative of trading on the continent through the establishment of a cooperative framework for collaboration and information exchange on AfCFTA and Agenda 2063.

At a MoU signing ceremony, Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, said it was important for Africans to understand that nobody was going to tell African stories better than Africans.

He, therefore, urged the African media to commit to projecting the continent in positive light, saying a lot of good things were happening on the continent.

“I value our partnership because you are our voice. You speak for us as Africans, and you speak for us the truth, and we must not take that for granted.

“You are a true African voice that speaks, articulates our ambition, our vision as Africans. And in my opinion, this is very important. We have to express, articulate our vision as Africans. And we must do it from our hearts,” he said.

Mr Constant Nemale, the President of AFRICA 24 Media Group, said setting up the new channel was motivated by the desire to spread the positive narratives on the continent.

He said in the beginning, it was difficult to get people to understand the essence of Africans owning their narrative with the establishment of an African based news channel.

As part of the agreement, he said the Channel would among other things, hold training programmes on AfCFTA for journalists on the continent and establish a dedicated channel for AfCFTA.