Africa Heralds Onset of Free-Trade Pact After Years of Talks

  • Bloc could become the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area
  • Intra-continental trade could rise to more than $231 billion

Photographer: Issue Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

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The first goods will begin to flow under an Africa-wide free-trade pact on Friday, the culmination of more than five years of negotiations on cutting cross-border tariffs.