The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Description

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the Flagship Projects of Agenda 2063 Africa’s development framework. 

The AfCFTA aims at accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.

A knowledge hub, providing resources and information on AfCFTA, intra-African trade, and Africa’s position in global trade and the multilateral trading system

Intra-African trade has historically been very low compared with African trade with the rest of the world. Intra-African trade remained largely the same in 2022 as in 2016, with South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria contributing over 35 percent of intra-African trade. Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Kenya, Morocco and Ghana– also account for 35% of intra-African trade. South Africa alone account for over 24.9 percent of intra-African trade.

Sixteen—16 of 55 of African countries are landlocked. So, 30 percent of African economies rely somewhat on their coastal neighbours for trade and development.

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