The Africa Economic Development Strategies (AEDS) says Zimbabwe is ready to participate and compete in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), driven by a resilient domestic industrial base.

Speaking at a media awareness day ahead of the Zimbabwe Industrialisation Strategy Conference (ZICE 2026), AEDS Executive Director Prof. Gift Mugano stated that the country has established the necessary structural competitiveness to navigate the free trade zone.

“We are ready to participate and compete in the African Continental Free Trade Area,” Mugano, who served as a lead consultant in developing Zimbabwe’s national AfCFTA roadmap, said, adding that local industrial readiness is currently visible across domestic retail and regional export markets.

At the domestic level, he said locally manufactured products now occupy 80% of shelf space in retail outlets.

According to Prof Mugano, defending the domestic market against imports replaces a historically vulnerable industrial setup with a competitive local base, establishing a solid foundation for broader trade participation.

He said the trade momentum is reflected directly in the national export trajectory and foreign exchange performance.

Prof Mugano said total foreign currency earnings are projected to hit an unprecedented US$20 billion milestone in 2026, with exports accounting for roughly 60% of the total.

The AfCFTA, established under the African Union, forms the world’s largest free trade area by total participating countries since the creation of the World Trade Organisation.

Designed to eliminate trade barriers, streamline logistics, and foster continental value chains, the framework connects 55 African nations into a unified market.

For Zimbabwean enterprises, integration opens access to a broader market of 1.3 billion people representing a collective gross domestic product of US$3.4 trillion.