African Continental Free Trade Area

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Map of the planned African Continental Free Trade Agreement
  • Ratifying Countries
  • Signed March 2018, not ratified
  • Signatory dated July 2018 or later, not ratified

    • The African Continental Free Trade Area ( AfCFTA ) is the free trade area between 54 member states of the African Union (AU), which was decided in 2019 on the basis of the African Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) of these states. Eritrea is the only African country not currently taking part.

    With the ratification by 22 African states in April 2019, the agreement was sealed on May 30, 2019. 30 states have now ratified the treaty. The practical implementation of the zone was planned for 2020, but had to be postponed to January 1, 2021 due to the corona pandemic .

    The goal of the free trade area is a total continental internal market . With their help, intra-African trade is to be promoted, the regional and continental integration of Africa to be expanded and the industrial, processing sector of the African economy to be further developed. Once built, the African continental market will have around 1.3 billion people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of 3.4 trillion US dollars. As of July 2019, intra-African trade was around 16 percent, while e.g. B. intra-European trade accounts for 69 percent. The aim is to increase this value to 60 percent within a few years. For this purpose, for example, the complicated, inconsistent export regulations and the different standards in the field of transport are to be simplified and adapted. In particular, the lack of infrastructure and corruption could turn out to be decisive hurdles. The World Bank estimates that the new free trade area could lift 30 million people out of poverty and increase the continent's gross domestic product by 450 billion US dollars.

    The agreement emerged from the 18th ordinary meeting of the Assembly of Heads of State or Government of the AU in January 2012 in Addis Ababa . The Action Plan on Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) was also adopted.

    story

    The starting point of efforts for a common African market was the Monrovia Declaration of 1979. The AfCFTA itself has its origin in the Abuja Treaty of 1991 (ratified in 1994), in which the creation of an African Economic Community and Customs Union (English: African Economic Community, AEC ) was decided. A pan-African economic and monetary union should emerge in six steps by 2028.

    Due to the slow progress towards the AEC, the creation of the continental free trade component in the form of the AfCFTA was decided at the AU summit in Addis Ababa in January 2012. The negotiations should be completed in 2017. At the same time, the Boost Intra-African Trade (BIAT) Action Plan was passed, which includes political accompanying measures by the AfCFTA.

    Since the AfCFTA was supposed to build on existing regional economic communities (REC) in Africa, negotiations only began after the creation of the three African free trade areas: EAC , COMESA and SADC ( Tripartite Free Trade Area ). Negotiations were officially opened at the AU summit in 2015. In doing so, negotiating principles, the institutional arrangement, the area of ​​responsibility and the roadmap for the negotiations were defined.

    From 2016 to 2017, phase 1 of the AfCFTA negotiations on goods and services was held in meetings of the AfCFTA Task Force and the AfCFTA Negotiation Forum. At a meeting of trade ministers on December 1 and 2, 2017, a final draft contract was agreed.

    The framework agreement was signed at the AU summit in March 2018. In addition, phase 2 of the negotiations took place on the subjects of competition , investment and intellectual property rights .

    At the extraordinary summit of the heads of state and government of the AU on July 7, 2019, outstanding minutes were passed.

    With the number of people living in it and the sum of the gross domestic products of the participating countries, the African free trade area is the largest trade area since the World Trade Organization was founded in 1994.

    On February 10, 2020, the South African diplomat Wamkele Mene was elected as the first Secretary General of the African Free Trade Area.

    literature

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ African free trade area launched. Retrieved July 7, 2019 .
    2. ↑ tagesschau.de: New free trade zone is a great opportunity for Africa. Accessed December 31, 2020 .
    3. ↑ Uta Steinwehr: African Free Trade Zone: Full of potential despite delay. In: Deutsche Welle. August 12, 2020, accessed September 28, 2020 .
    4. ↑ https://au.int/en/ti/cfta/about
    5. ↑ Uta Steinwehr: African Free Trade Zone: Full of potential despite delay. In: Deutsche Welle. August 12, 2020, accessed September 28, 2020 .
    6. ↑ Important milestone for the African free trade area. In: Deutsche Welle. July 7, 2019, accessed September 28, 2020 .
    7. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2020-12/afcfta-abkommen-afräne-freihandelszone-armut-corona-weltbank
    8. ↑ https://au.int/en/ti/cfta/about
    9. ↑ United Nations Economic Commission on Africa, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Ed.): The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in Africa - A Human Rights Perspective . 2017, p. 19 ( uneca.org ).
    10. ↑ a b Regions Refocus and Third World Network-Africa (ed.): The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA): Process and Political Significance . April 2016 ( daghammarskjold.se [PDF]).
    11. ^ Economic Commission for Africa, African Union (Ed.): Boosting Intra-African Trade - Issues Affecting Intra-African Trade, Proposed Action Plan for boosting Intra-African Trade and Framework for the fast tracking of a Continental Free Trade Area . 2012, p. 48 ( uneca.org [PDF]).
    12. ↑ African countries are building a giant free-trade area. In: The Economist. December 7, 2017, accessed January 5, 2018 .
    13. ^ African Continental Free Trade Area. (PDF) Economic Commission for Africa, African Union Commission, March 15, 2018, accessed April 16, 2018 .
    14. ↑ AfCFTA Agreement Secure's minimum threshold of 22 ratification as Sierra Leone and the Saharawi Republic deposit instruments. African Union Commission, April 29, 2019, accessed May 4, 2019 .
    15. ↑ After months of COVID delays, African free trade bloc launches. Retrieved January 2, 2021 .
    16. ^ South Africa wins bitter fight with Nigeria over top AU job. In: timeslive.co.za. February 10, 2020, accessed January 3, 2021 .