Dakar, Senegal, 11 December 2015 – the Training Workshop on Trade in Services Negotiations for AU-CFTA Negotiators concluding today. The training workshop which was officially opened by H.E. Mr. Oumar Sarr, the Minister of Trade in Senegal was attended by the AU Francophone countries as well as by the partners of the African Union (AU). The general objective of the training workshop was to build the capacity of services. Trade negotiators in Africa to effectively benefit from trade in services opportunities at bi-lateral, regional and multilateral levels, but most importantly to prepare for the CFTA Negotiations on Services that were launched in June 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa during AU Summit. The workshop provided a forum to share experiences of successful services exports and brain storm on a strategy for CFTA Services Negotiations.

The training workshop is part of follow-up measures being undertaken by the African Union Commission (AUC) to enhance the understanding and negotiation skills of African services trade negotiators in preparation for negotiations that would take place subsequent to the June 2015 AU Summit decision to launch negotiations on the establishment of an African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), which are expected to be concluded in 2017.
Trade negotiators from 28 AU Francophone member states benefitted from training provided by AUC officials, international, regional and national experts in an intensive workshop on trade in services negotiations in Dakar, Senegal, from 7-11 December 2015.
The training workshop aimed at capacity development of the AU Member States' negotiators in the area of trade in services in order to support negotiations of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreements. The main focus of the workshop was to introduce the participants to:
• The importance of Trade in Services to the economy;
• The potential for export of services within the region and globally;
• Treaty obligations of AU Member States under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services;
• Best practices for negotiating services in other regional trade agreements.
Participants also examined the experiences in services development and liberalization of regional integration groupings in Africa, such as ECOWAS and SADC.
Participants learned about the importance of services trade in African development, services negotiations at the global and regional levels, and possible options and approaches to services negotiations at the pan-African level, including in sensitive sectors such as labour mobility. An overview on AUC Frameworks on Services and Implications on CFTA-Services Negotiations was presented during the training workshop. Several national and regional experiences of successful services from African regional economic communities were shared by high-ranking officials.
The Trade and Industry Department in AUC presented a background on the CFTA process, including the AU Assembly decision mandating Member States to negotiate the agreement; the negotiating principles, institutional arrangements for negotiations, and terms of reference for CFTA negotiating forum; an indicative roadmap for the negotiations and conclusion of the agreement; and progress that has been attained so far in the run up to the negotiations.
Experts from AUC, the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (TRALAC), International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty (ILEAP), Member States, and other international experts shared their insights and experiences with the participants and other independent experts.
The weeklong Training Workshop concluded with the presentation of Certificates of Participation to the participants by the Director of Trade in the Ministry of Trade of Senegal. In his closing remarks, the representative of the African Union Commission highlighted that capacity building is a critical component of the CFTA negotiations work program and future trainings will be targeted at sectoral experts, members of the private sector, parliamentarians and other relevant stakeholders.
Interview requests should be addressed to Mr. Gamal Ahmed A. Karrar, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission (AUC), E-mail: gamalk@africa-union.org / gamal90@gmail.com
For more information please contact:
1. Ms. Carolyne Tumuhimbise | Trade Adviser | Email: Tumuhimbisec@vahoo.com
2. Mr. Batanai Chikwene |Trade Policy Officer |Email CHIKWENEB@africa-union.org
Notes to the Editors:
Recognizing the role of trade in services liberalization, five African Regional Economic
Communities (RECs) such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East Africa Community (EAC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Economic Community of Central African Countries (ECCAS), and Southern African Development Community (SADC), have in the past decade agreed to undertake services liberalization as part of the regional integration agenda. At the same time, some of the countries are negotiating trade in services liberalization agreements with the European Countries under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). While the level of services integration and liberalization various across these regions and the EPA-Services negotiations are yet to be concluded, Progress is already underway to negotiate services liberalization chapter with the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), launching in June 2015, which includes 26 African countries, and the 15 countries of ECOWAS which have already come together. Yet there is an aspiration among African countries to pursue services liberalization as part of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) aimed at boosting intra-Africa trade.

The 18th Ordinary African Union Summit held in January 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia endorsed an Action Plan and a roadmap for the establishment of a CFTA, to be operationalized by an indicative date of 2017. A project on "Strengthening capacities of African countries in boosting intra-Africa trade” was designed, with UNCTAD being mandated with the implementing of the project. The overall goal of the project is to foster and boost intra-African trade expansion for sustained economic growth and inclusive development through dedicated support to the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), and thereby facilitating a process of inclusive structural transformation of African countries.

The project has two main expected results:
i) Enhanced knowledge among African policy-makers, experts and private sector on requisite policies and measures for establishing the CFTA, boosting intra-African trade in goods and services, and related fostering or value addition for regional supply chains in agricultural commodities and processed food products; and
ii) Increased capacity of African policy-makers, experts and private sector to adopt and implement policies and measures to eliminate barriers to trade in services, notably nontariff barriers and measures, to improve trade facilitation and eliminate road blocks as well as free movement of business persons across Africa and boosting of intra-African trade.

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
Follow us
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission
Learn more at:
http://www.au.int

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
Follow us
Face book: https://www.facebook.com/AfricanUnionCommission
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_AfricanUnion
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/AUCommission
Learn more at:
http://www.au.int/