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The AfCFTA and Africa’s development agenda The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) wasopenedforsignatureandratification at the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the AU Assembly on 21 March 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. The AfCFTA Agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019. The AfCFTA is the continent’s most ambitious integration initiative. The main objectives of the AfCFTA areto: • create a single continental market for goods and services, with free movementof business persons and investments • expand intra-Africa trade across the regional economic communities and the continent in general • enhance competitiveness and support economic transformation • promote industrial development Agenda 2063 is Africa’s framework for structural transformation. It builds on and aims to facilitate the implementation of existing continental initiatives (AIDA, PIDA, BIAT and CAADP).The AfCFTA, a single African air transport market (SAATM), and the free movement of people are Agenda 2063 flagship projects. The AU has adopted legal instruments for the effective implementation of these flagship projects. Importantly, the UN Agenda 2030’s 17 SDGs are incorporated in the 20 goals of Agenda 2063. By implementing Agenda 2063, Africa will contributetoachievingits global commitments under theSDGs. 2Agenda 2063 BIAT PIDA CAADP AIDA SAATM Decision Pr o toc ol on Fr ee Move ment of Peop le AfCFTA Agreement Yamou s - soukro Decision Source:African Union (Agenda 2063) 3Architecture of the AfCFTA The AfCFTA Agreement is a comprehensive legal compact which includes the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA, Protocols on Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Dispute Settlement, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights and Competition Policy. Digital Trade and Women and Youth have been added aftertheentryintoforceofthe AFCFTAAgreement Phase 1 negotiations cover Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Dispute Settlement. The Protocols on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services each have severalAnnexes covering substantive disciplines. Negotiations ontariff concessions, rules of origin for goods,schedules of specific commitments forservicesandrelatedframeworksforregulatory cooperation are still ongoing. Phase 2 negotiations cover Investment, Competition Policy and IntellectualProperty Rights.TheAnnexonDisputeSettlementtothe InvestmentProtocolandtheAnnexestotheProtocolonIntellectual PropertyRightsarestillundernegotiation. Phase 3 negotiations cover Digital Trade, and Women and Youth in Trade. 45Trade in Goods: Tariff Negotiations The Protocol on Trade in Goods nominally entered into force with the AfCFTA Agreement in 2019, although negotiations on some rules of origin and schedules of tariff concessions are still ongoing. The AfCFTA will see the progressive liberalisation of 97% of intra-Africa tariffs, 7% of which are categorised as sensitive products and will be liberalised over a longer time frame. The remaining 3% of tariffs may be excluded from liberalisation for reasons relating to food security, national security, fiscal revenue, livelihood, and industrialisation. Forty-eight State Parties have (as at May2025) submitted offers of tariff concessions that have been verified by the AfCFTA Secretariat,ascompliant with the negotiating modalities. These Provisional Schedules of Tariff Concessions are available in thee- TariffBook. 6The AfCFTA RoO include the ‘wholly obtained’ rule for agricultural and other primary products;change oftariffheading;and product-specific rules for otherproducts.These have been adopted to encourage local value addition and transformation of inputs. Rules of Origin for some clothing and textiles(Chapters60,61and62) and automotive tariff lines(inChapter87)have not yet been agreed. For some clothing tariff lines, a double-transformation rule has been agreed for 5 years (when a review will take place). 7 RulesofOrigin RulesofOrigin(RoO)determinetheeconomicnationalityofaproduct andhenceitseligibilityforpreferentialtarifftreatmentinafreetrade area. AnAfCFTARulesofOrigin Manualprovidesdetailsofthe finalisedRoO. Itmaybedownloadedhere: https://bit.ly/42OobZ6Trade in Services The Protocol on Trade in Services negotiations are taking place in successive rounds. For the first round of negotiations, which is ongoing, State Parties have agreed to schedule commitments in 5 priority sectors: Negotiations are underway for the development of Regulatory Frameworks that will underpin the market access (MA) and national treatment (NT) conditions guaranteed in the Schedules of Specific Commitments. These frameworks should promote transparencyand predictability by guiding the implementation of national laws, regulations and policies whilerespectingStatesParties’righttointroducenew regulations.DraftRegulatory frameworks for financial and communication services have beenprioritisedandweretabledatthe15 th CommitteeonTradeinServicesinMarch 2025.TheSecretariathasdevelopedDraftRegulatoryFrameworksforTransportand TourismServices. The Assembly has adopted 24 SchedulesofSpecificCommitmentsforthe5priority servicessectors(financial,communication,transport,businessservicesandtourism). ThisincludestheschedulesofBotswanaandComorosthatwereadoptedbytheAU AssemblyinFebruary2024.Morocco’sschedulewasfinalisedandreviewedbythe CommitteeonTradeinServicesinMarch2025andisnowreadyforadoption.The SecretariathasbegundevelopmentofguidelinesforthenegotiationofMutual RecognitionAgreementsforprofessionalsandservicesectorregulatorybodies. 8Phase II and III Negotiations The Protocols on Investment, Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), and Competition Policy have been completed and adopted. Further negotiations are required tofinalise the Annexes to the Investment and IPR Protocols.Thelegalandinstitutionalframeworktooperationalisethe ProtocolonCompetitionPolicyisexpectedtobefinalisedin2025. Dispute resolution under the Investment Protocol The Protocol on Investment provides for a dispute resolution mechanism that investors will have access to. Article 47 of the Protocol provides that in the event that an investor of a State Party and the Host State are unableto resolve a dispute amicably, they may make use of the dispute resolution mechanism provided in the Annex (which is yet to be negotiated). While the Investment Protocol only applies to intra-Africa investment, internationalfirms that already have an established commercial presence in a State Party will be able to make use of the Protocol’s dispute settlement mechanism. TheProtocolonDigitalTradeandtheProtocolonWomenandYouthin TradewereadoptedbytheAssemblyinFebruary2024.The8Annexes oftheProtocolonDigitalTradewereadoptedinFebruary2025.The Protocol on Digital Trade (which covers e-commerce) aims to support the Protocols on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services by promoting the sustainable and inclusive transformation of digital trade on the continent. The Protocol on Women and Youthis geared toaddressing systemicgender-specificbarrierstotrade and unlocking the potential of the continent’s youth. 9Next >