African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

The article below, written by me, was published in the Global Center for Development Law and Policy's (GCDLP) first newsletter issue, which I had the pleasure to co-edit. The full newsletter can be found at the Center's webpage: http://www.gcdlp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GCDLP-ISSUE-1-JUNE-2019.pdf

African Continental Free Trade Area

The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was negotiated by African Union Member States, coming into force on May 30, 2019. This took place 30 days after 22 countries deposited their ratification instruments with the African Union Commission, as mandated by article 23 of AfCFTA. To this date, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso have also ratified the Agreement and more countries are expected to deposit their ratification instrument before the Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union to be held next month.(1)

The African Union (the successor of the Organisation of African Unity) was launched in 2002 and its membership comprises all of the 55 African countries. Whereas the OAU was created with 32 Member States in 1963 with the main goal of moving past Africa's colonial history, the African Union was established with a focus on economic and development goals.

In that sense, AfCFTA is the "flagship initiative" for economic growth and development of the AU's "Agenda 2063"a series of objectives on the social, economic, development, scientific arenas. The AfCFTA "aims to boost intra-African trade by providing a comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement among the Member States, covering trade in goods and services, investment, intellectual property rights and competition policy."(2) It is indeed a very ambitious project to be implemented and deepened over different stages.

AfCFTA builds on the already existing Regional Economic Communities (RECs) which are 8 Free Trade Areas grouping all of the African countries (some of them belonging to more than one REC), based on their geographic area.(3) The RECs were thought to be the first step towards economic integration in the African continent with a view to pan-African integration at a later stage. AfCFTA is that next and important step towards economic integration.

To this date, only three countries: Benin, Eritrea and Nigeria have yet to sign the Agreement. Given the number of countries participating in the Agreement, AfCFTA is the second-largest Free Trade Agreement in the world since the establishment of the World Trade Organization. 

--Julia A. Garza

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(1) The countries that have deposited their ratification instruments to this date are: Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Niger, Chad, Congo Republic, Djibouti, Guinea, eSwatini (former Swaziland), Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Saharawi Republic, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso.

(2) https://au.int/en/trade-and-industrial-development

(3) https://au.int/en/organs/recs