INVITATION TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MEDIA

When: Monday 5 – Friday 16 June 2017

Where: Palais des Congrès – Niamey, Niger

Who: Organised by the Department of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Government of Niger

Objective: The objective of the 6th Continental Free Trade Area Negotiating Forum (CFTA-NF) is to conclude the draft Modalities for Tariff Liberalization and Trade in Services negotiations, consider the draft Texts of the CFTA Agreement and receive the reports from the second meeting of Technical Working Groups. The meeting will commence with sessions on presentations on, among others, Trade Mapping and the Trade Analysis Tool.
The objectives of the 3rd Meeting of the Senior Trade Officials will be to consider the outcomes of the 5th and 6th Meetings of the CFTA Negotiating Forum as well as the Progress Report on AGOA, while the 3rd Meeting of African Ministers of Trade will consider the outcomes of the 3rd Meeting of Senior Trade Officials.

Participants: The Meetings shall be attended by Members of the CFTA Negotiating Forum, Senior Trade Officials and Ministers of Trade from each of the fifty-five AU Member States, Trade Experts from the eight RECs recognised by the AU (AMU, CEN-SAD, COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC) and other Members of the CFTA Continental Task Force (CTF) including UNCTAD, UNECA and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Format:

a) Meeting of CFTA – Negotiating Forum : 5th – 10th June 2017;
b) Meeting of Senior Trade Officials: 12th – 14th June 2017;
c) Meeting of African Ministers of Trade: 15th and 16th June 2017.

Background: The 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union which was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2015 launched the negotiations for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). The launch of the negotiations marked a major milestone in the implementation of the Summit Decision to establish a Continental Free Trade Area by 2017. The main objective of the CFTA negotiations is to achieve a comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement among the Member States of the African Union.

The inaugural session of the CFTA Negotiating Forum (NF) was held in February 2016. The CFTA NF has since established Technical Working Groups (TWGs), which are providing technical support to the negotiations. The meetings of the TWGs have already commenced and one of the assignments which they are undertaking is the development of the draft CFTA texts. The first and second meetings of the TWG took place from 6 to 17 February 2017 and from 24th April to 5th May 2017 respectively.

The Meeting of the African Union Ministers of Trade held on 29th – 30th November 2016, considered, amongst others, the draft Modalities for the CFTA Tariff Liberalization and Trade in Services negotiations. The meeting requested for an analysis and diagnostic study of the impact of the four options of the Modalities on Tariff Liberalization on the economies of Member States. The analysis was to include mapping of intra African trade flows focusing on direction and volume of trade. In addition, the different options have to be analyzed vis-à-vis their compatibility with the Guiding Principles on CFTA Negotiations. It was directed that the analysis be conducted in collaboration with UNCTAD, UNECA and the RECs. The 5th CFTA-NF did not conclude the draft Modalities for Tariff Liberalization and Trade in Services negotiations.

According to the work plan of the CFTA negotiating institutions approved by Ministers of Trade in November 2016, the AUC Department of Trade and Industry has therefore organized the 6th Meeting of the CFTA-NF to be conducted on 5th to 10th June 2017. This meeting will be immediately followed by the 3rd meeting of Senior Trade Officials (STO) and African Ministers of Trade (AMOT) on 12th – 14th and 15th to 16th June 2017 respectively. On request by the Presidential Champion of the CFTA, H.E. Mahamadou Issoufou, President of the Republic of Niger, these meetings will be held in Niamey, Niger.

Journalists are invited to cover the Official Opening and Closing Sessions of the three Meetings.
Media Contacts:
Mr. Patient Atcho, Department of Trade and Industry of the AUC, Tel: +251 929335250, Email: atchop@africa-union.org
Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information and Communication of the AUC, via E-mail: YambouE@africa-union.org / esthertankou@yahoo.com