African Continental Free Trade Agreement

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Call for Participation for Training and Research on Digital Trade Regulatory Integration in Africa

Towards the end of 2020, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), through its African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), launched a training and research initiative on “Digital trade regulatory integration in Africa”, focusing on 11 pilot countries. Based on their background and expertise in the area, researchers from Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia were selected to build two databases, for each of countries of focus, on various measures related to digital services trade regulations and digital trade integration, respectively.

Africa Trade Roundtable under the theme - “Advancing A Continental Market through the AfCFTA”

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been described as the most ambitious project for advancing economic integration on the African continent. The AfCFTA is the African Union’s framework to establish a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of capital and business travelers. AfCFTA presents a chance to defragment the African market, thus enhancing competitiveness and serving as a vehicle to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is against this backdrop that the Centre for African Legal Studies at the UPSA Law School (Ghana), in collaboration with the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, is organizing the 1st Africa Trade Roundtable under the theme - “Advancing A Continental Market through the AfCFTA.”

The North-South Trade Agreements and Integration in Africa: A Focus on the Proposed USA - Kenya Free Trade Agreement

It is important that the Global South countries and particularly African countries device approaches that aim at entrenching integration in their own regions. This is absolutely crucial now that African States have the ambition of increasing intra- African trade. Secondly, African governments need to approach FTA and EPAs with the countries in Global North with extra caution and with their development needs, economic situations, and integration ambitions in mind.