African Continental Free Trade Area: Opportunities and Challenges

On March 21, 2018, at the end of the 10 extraordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, forty-four out of the fifty-five member states of the Union signed the Treaty establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In terms of the number of countries involved (with a combined GDP that is currently worth over two trillion dollars a year) and the population concerned (1.2 billion people), the AfCFTA represents the main free trade agreement since the foundation of the World Trade Organization. Equally important is the timing of the agreement, as it stands in sharp contrast with an international context marked by a persistent and significant increase in trade-restrictive measures, as well as by a growing resistance (or even hostility) towards the development of regional integration systems.