Department of Public Law

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Browsing Department of Public Law by Subject "Agreement"

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    A Review of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA)
    (Redeemer's University Law Journal. (RUNLAWJ ), 2019) Idowu, Oladimeji
    On April 2019, the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was launched in Kigali, Rwanda on 21' March 2018 successfully garnered the 22 ratifications required for it to enter force. To date, 20 of the 22 countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, meaning that only two more countries have to deposit their instruments of ratification to reach the threshold of 22 which is the required number for the AfCFTA to enter into force. The continental free trade area project, as a whole, is designed to remove tariffs on 90% of the goods traded between the state parties to the agreement, and gradually eliminate other non-tariff barriers to trade in goods and services. The free trade area is expected to include all the fifty-five African countries which have a population of over one billion people and, according to scholars, a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US $3.4 trillion. In contemplation of what is next, this article examines and explores the AfCFTA Agreement to identify the prospects which the project offers and the challenges that should be tackled, as the continent brazes for trade integration which is expected to spur development and industrialisation in Africa. The article recommends that the negotiating parties should adopt a "development integration" approach to ensure that the outcome benefits all AU members and concludes that the AfCFTA is capable of making a lasting impact on the lives of ordinary people across the African continent if implemented justly and effectively.