On the sidelines of the 33rd African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD, in collaboration with the Pardee Center will launch a special report, ‘AfCFTA Implementation: Conditions for Success.’ 

The report sheds light on individual and collective challenges that may impede the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area by countries, as well as potential opportunities that need to be grasped. The research report proffers actual analysis of local and international factors that may facilitate the process of putting into operation the continent’s free trade area. 

The report also provides guidance to African countries when making critical decisions on matters that may inhibit the speed and the quality of the implementation of the AfCFTA. In a nutshell, this report will enormously benefit countries in terms of guiding interventions that focus on strengthening and aligning related institutional and human capital needs using integrated, cross-sector and transboundary approaches.

Using the ‘International Futures Modelling Tool’, the report highlights to planners, policymakers and development specialists a uniquely African point of view and insightful analysis to help evidence-based prioritisation and determining of national or regional AfCFTA implementation avenues that may lead to its success. 

It should be noted that AfCFTA, which the African Union Member States have swiftly ratified is expected to contribute to the creation of a competitive business environment for industries and enterprises, generating job opportunities and fostering sustainable national wealth that may bring about prosperity to the African countries in line with the aspirations of the continental development blueprint, ‘Agenda 2063’. Therefore, by considering the necessity of AfCFTA towards the realisation of Agenda 2063, AUDA-NEPAD and Pardee Center joined hands to flag all the challenges and tradeoffs to be considered by the countries while advancing it nationally and regionally.