African leaders are meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali to sign an agreement on an African Continental Free Trade Area. Member states will then need to ratify the agreement before it can go into effect. CGTN's Girum Chala has more.

The launching of the continental free trade area is highly regarded as an important step taken to the right direction. And the African Union says if member states can implement the CFTA agreement fully, hundreds of millions of Africans can be freed from the bonds of poverty.

ALBERT MUCHANGA AUC COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY "Right now Africa's trade among its member states is about 15-18 percent depending on the source of data. So if you find products made from one African country to the other that is a way of bringing Africa close to the people."

GIRUM CHALA ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA "Africa's Continental free trade area will cover a market of 1.2 billion people and a GDP of 2.5 trillion U.S dollars, across all 55 member States of the African Union."

And now the Rwandan Capital Kigali is hosting leaders from across the continent for a special summit aimed at launching the continental free trade area. The signing of the CFTA agreement will mark the operationalization of what is to be the world's largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

ALBERT MUCHANGA AUC COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY "There are already protections that if we create the continental free trade area, Africa's trade with the rest of the world will rise from the current level of 3 percent to 6 percent within ten years. So that is a fundamental project that we are promoting."

But seeing the continental free trade area on the ground is not going to be easy. It requires bringing all corners of Africa together.

ALBERT MUCHANGA AUC COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY "The culture of one Africa is in evolution. There are some parties who still think nationalistic, but we need to move now towards a continental culture where everything is one Africa; one Africa, please voice, one market and acting in unison. So that culture needs to be developed."

GIRUM CHALA ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA "The continental free trade area is the second out the ten flagship projects under agenda 2063 launched this year. The AU, in January, has managed to commission the single AFRICA air transport market- which opens African skies for the continent's airliners. Analysts tell you the African Union slowly but surely is taking the driver's seat in changing Africa for the better, forever. Girum Chala, CGTN, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia."