Plans to establish a pan-African trade pact are well underway, as part of a broader effort to increase intra-regional trade within the continent. However, these plans also hit an early roadblock during a week-long meeting of African leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after various participants questioned such an agreement’s feasibility.
Leaders at the African Union Summit, which took place from 23 to 30 January 2012 under the theme ‘boosting intra-African trade’, endorsed a plan to set up a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017. The proposed CFTA would be a key component of the AU’s strategy to boost trade within the region by at least 25-30% in the next decade.
The “Declaration on boosting intra-African trade and the establishment of a continental free trade area” calls on member states, regional economic communities (RECs), and development partners to adopt the necessary measures toward the effective implementation of an Action Plan – a document produced during the AU trade ministers’ meeting in December 2011 detailing priority action clusters to address obstacles to increasing intra-African trade. Read more here.
