Trading under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement began on 1 January 2021. As of 5 December 2020, 54 Member States had signed the Agreement, 34 had deposited their instruments of ratification, and 41 countries/customs unions had submitted their tariff offers, including the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The 13th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly, held by videoconference on 5 December 2020 to discuss the historic economic integration Agreement, decided that the exchange of tariff concessions between State Parties will be conditioned on the principle of reciprocity in terms of product line coverage, and tariff reduction schedules that are aligned with the agreed modalities. Heads of State and Government endorsed the declaration on the Risk of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) with respect to COVID-19 pandemic related measures, as adopted by AU Ministers of Trade (AMOT), and the establishment of the African Business Council (AfBC), which is part of the AfCFTA Architecture. They also underscored the urgent need for Member States to kick-start trading activities under the Agreement.

The AfCFTA will be one of the largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), given Africa’s population of 1.2 billion people, which is expected to grow to 2.5 billion by 2050. Some of its expected benefits include:

• Increasing trade among African countries, which currently ranges between 15 and 18 percent
• Stimulating production through the development of regional value chains to ensure that manufacturing, agricultural processing and other activities across the continent are stimulated to supply the market
• Strengthening the capacities of African companies to access and supply world markets

Strengthening Africa’s economic and commercial diplomacy.

The AfCFTA Agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019 following the deposit of the required minimum number of 22 instruments of ratification deposited by AU Member States. Its operational phase was launched on 7 July 2019 at an AU summit in Niamey, Niger, during which occasion it was announced that Ghana would host the AfCFTA Secretariat.

The five key instruments adopted by the Assembly in July 2019 were the: rules of origin; tariff concessions; online mechanism on monitoring, reporting and elimination of non-tariff barriers (NTBs); Pan-African payment and settlement system and the African Trade Observatory information portal.

In February 2020, the Assembly appointed Mr Wamkele Mene of South Africa, as Secretary-General of the AfCFTA. The Secretariat building in Accra, Ghana, was officially opened in August 2020. The Secretariat facilitates the efficient conduct of business of the AfCFTA, including developing the working programme and the annual budget, and implementing the decisions of AU Ministers and Heads of State and Government.

See https://au.int/en/treaties for the full AfCFTA Agreement and the ratification status list. Also see https://au.int/cfta for more information about AfCFTA.