A Review of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA)
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Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Redeemer's University Law Journal. (RUNLAWJ )
Abstract
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.
Description
Keywords
Africa, Agreement, Free-trade, Tariff, Liberalization