DIGITAL TRADE in AFRICA

Executive summary and policy recommendations

In July 2017, the African Trade Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Geneva Office launched a joint report entitled The Continental Free Trade Area in Africa: A Human Rights Perspective. The publication contained a critical assessment of the human rights dimensions of what is to be the biggest trade agreement in terms of the number of participating countries since the establishment of the World Trade Organization.

Since that date, significant headway has been made towards establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. The landmark agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, covering trade in goods and services, was signed in Kigali on 21 March 2018 by representatives of 44 Governments. As of 8 May 2019, an additional eight Member States had signed the agreement, and the 22 ratifications required for the agreement to enter into force had been received.