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 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.

The African Union, comprised of 55 Member States, has prioritized enhancing regional integration and development, and in 2016 decided to move towards a “borderless” Africa with seamless intracontinental migration.

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.

The African Medicines Agency (AMA) is a proposed specialised agency of the African Union (AU) intended to facilitate the harmonisation of medical regulation throughout the African Union. Following a similar model to that of the European Medicines Agency, it is intended to have a wide scope covering medicines, traditional medicine, and medical devices.

The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa.

For an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa. Official page of the AU.

African Union law is the body of law comprising treaties, resolutions and decisions that have direct and indirect application to the member States of the African Union (AU).

While debates about the unpredictability of economic and political relationships between the EU and Britain continue to linger, thousands of miles away, the African Union (AU) is creating a close-knit relationship among its own 55 member nations.

“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.”

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.

"We, the people of Africa and her Diaspora, united in diversity, young and old, men and women, girls and boys from all walks of life, deeply conscious of history, express our deep appreciation to all generations of Pan-Africanists. ... Agenda 2063, rooted in Pan Africanism ... a robust framework for addressing past injustices and the realisation of the 21st Century as the African Century."

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.

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.

On March 21, 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa took the giant step of creating a large and integrated market by establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

"The African Union is a geo-political entity covering the entirety of the African continent. Its origin dates back to the First Congress of Independence African States, held in Accra, Ghana, from 15 to 22 April 1958."

The African Union (AU) has adopted a Free Movement Protocol and a draft plan of action to go with it.

African leaders met on Sunday to launch a continental free-trade zone that if successful would unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development.

The European Union – African Union Summit, which is taking place today, is an important milestone. European and African leaders must underline that we depend on each other. A prosperous African future is a prosperous European future, writes a coalition of MEPs.

We are the development agency of the African Union, coordinating and executing priority regional and continental development projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063 – Africa’s vision and action plan. We are mandated to strengthen capacity of Member States and regional bodies.

After four years of talks, African leaders announced an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc.

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is one of the organs of the African Union (AU) as set out by the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (Abuja Treaty). The Parliament is intended as a platform for people from all African states to be involved in discussions and decision-making on the problems and challenges facing the continent.

The African Union, or AU, is a pan-African organisation whose goal is to propel a united continent towards peace and prosperity.

"The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa group together individual countries in subregions for the purposes of achieving greater economic integration."

Rwandan president Paul Kagame says the African Union could become a strong body as the European Union despite well documented hurdles.

Back in 1999, under what is known as the Yamoussoukro Decision, African countries planned to free their skies for air travel. Last Sunday the African Union (AU) took its first big step towards this goal, launching the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM).

The African Union is an intergovernmental union that comprises all of the countries of Africa. This video briefly explained what the African Union (AU) is, what it does and which countries are members. It also compares the African Union to the European Union.

Described by some as the EU of Africa, the African Union is a 55 member union that works together to develop a "A United and Strong Africa". In this video we explain the union, how took inspiration from the European Union and what it's planning for the future.

Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment (AU Free Movement Protocol) adopted in 2018.

The Africa-EU Partnership is the formal channel through which the European Union and the African continent work together. It is based on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy adopted by Heads of State and Government at the second EU-Africa Summit in 2007.

But while free trade is under threat in much of the world, African countries are heading in the other direction: the continent is on track to create the largest free trade agreement by population that the world has seen since the 1995 creation of the World Trade Organization.

The Africa-EU Partnership is the formal political channel through which the European Union (EU) and the African continent work together, engage in political and policy dialogues and define their cooperative relationship. It was established in 2000 at the first Africa-EU Summit in Cairo.

Volume 2 - Proceedings of the First Congress of African Economists / Les Actes du Premier Congrès des Économistes Africains.