The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been signed by 44 African countries at a summit of the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda. / 10 of the African Union's (AU) 55 member states did not sign the agreement.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is launching a campaign to have all countries of the ECCAS sub-regional bloc operationalize the ECCAS Preferential Tariff (known for short in French as TP/CEEAC) – one of the instruments for easing trade in the zone.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) entered into force on May 30, 2019, with the first phase of the deal taking effect for 24 countries. An extraordinary summit on the trade agreement is planned for July 7, 2019 in Niamey, Niger, while Phase II negotiations on intellectual property rights (IPRs), investment and competition policy are expected to take at least another year.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was finally signed on the 5th of December 2020 by 54 out of 55 African Union member states, heralding the start of a new era of improved trade governance as intra-continental trade is boosted and African trade arrangements across regional economic communities are harmonised.

Following the unveiling of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in Kigali, Rwanda, in March 2018, Africa is about to become the world’s largest free trade area: 55 countries merging into a single market of 1.2 billion people with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. In this edition, we examine the benefits and challenges of a free trade area for countries and individual traders.

Africa is trading - just not within the continent. The African Union wants to change this and launch the world's largest free trade area. The plan has potential, but some member states are keeping the AU in suspense.

The largest free-trade in the world, spanning the African continent with its 1.2 billion people, has come into effect, aiming to eradicate tariffs and create single market for a potential market worth $2.5 trillion.

AFRICAN countries officially began trading under a new continent-wide free trade area last Friday.

“It goes without saying that the most emblematic of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063 is the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA. The AfCFTA has the ambition…… in the final analysis, to establish a continental market. The idea goes back to 1963, with the establishment of an African Economic Community.”

It’s the second year of business on Africa’s biggest trading platform – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - and it isn’t going to be business as usual in the continent’s single biggest trading bloc.

After months of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the African Continental Free Trade Area launches, but full implementation of the historic pact may take years.

The African Continental Free Trade Area will enter into force during the next African Union Summit slated for Niamey, Niger, in July, the East African reported on Tuesday.

A no-deal Brexit would limit access to the EU and entry to markets in Africa could damage profits.

As Britain prepares to leave the European Union, workers in Kenya's flower industry are closely monitoring developments.

Figures seen by Sky News show how firms are recruiting outside Europe to secure the skills they need, with India in particular providing staff to fill key vacancies.

There was spontaneous applause as Africa’s largest economy Nigeria signed up to a deal that experts say could provide far-reaching benefits, but only if it is implemented properly.

More than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs are currently being affected negatively due to the failure of Ghana and UK to sign a post Brexit trade agreement that allows Ghanaian fruit producers’ tariff free access to the UK market as exists under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

In this work, Richard E. Mshomba offers an in-depth analysis of economic integration in Africa with a focus on the East African Community (EAC), arguably the most ambitious of all the regional economic blocs currently in existence in Africa.

The ECOWAS Parliament also requested the authority of heads of state and government to take a firm stand regarding compliance with the 2020 deadline for the establishment of the ECOWAS single currency.

The launch of the operational phase of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is expected later this week, while the 15 ECOWAS countries, adopted ‘ECO’ as the name of the region’s planned shared currency, and agreed for a flexible currency regime towards improving integration and trade in the region.

Kenya and the European Union have signed a long-negotiated trade agreement to increase the flow of goods between the two markets, as Brussels pursues stronger economic ties with Africa.

"The Regulation defines a harmonized legal and tariff framework for roaming on public mobile communication networks within ECOWAS Member States and will solve the problem of high cost of roaming services in the region through the elimination or reduction of call tariffs, SMS charges and data costs, among others."

‘People in Ghana are very angry. They do not understand why Britain is acting like a bully’

Stephen Delahunty reports on a lawsuit being brought before for the courts to consider the legality of the UK-Morocco Association Agreement

The UK’s science community is urging the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to match funding to rhetoric, as arguments continue over where the budget for the UK’s association to the EU’s Horizon Europe research programme will come from.