The African Continental Free Trade Agreement will create more jobs and attract investments in the local markets of participating countries, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA secretariat, Wamkele Mene, said on Monday.

Mene, who said this at a press conference in Abuja, stated that the secretariat had been working hard to establish mechanisms that would prevent job losses.

He said, “We don’t want this agreement to lead to job losses. We want this agreement to create jobs.

“Therefore we have to work extremely hard to establish mechanisms for employment, not mechanisms that would lead to job losses in the local market.”

He said the agreement was inclusive for all African countries with every segments of the economy benefiting from it.

Mene said, “My mission is that this agreement when being implemented, every country benefits both big and small and that every segment of the economy also benefits.

“If we do not do that, our populations will reject this agreement and it will only benefit big multinationals in Africa. So we got to make sure that the agreement is all inclusive in its application.”

Also speaking at the briefing, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Richard Adebayo, said the Federal Government was committed to the AfCFTA agreement.