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Building capacity to help Africa trade better

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Expediting the start of trade under the AfCFTA

25 May 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg
The African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) Agreement is in force since 30 May 2019. The required number of twenty-two ratifications have been deposited thirty days earlier.[1] Several add...read more

To Cooperate or to Harmonise?

25 May 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
There is a long pro-integration tradition in Africa. It emphasises the need for a collective voice on matters impacting the continent’s standing in the world, and it suggests that the ec...read more

Cameroon: Making the most of the AfCFTA through a national implementation strategy

25 May 2022 ~ Cham Etienne Bama
Read the full blog HERE Cameroon signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement on 21 March 2018, and this marked the beginning of the country’s liberalisation p...read more

The Democratic Republic of Congo joins the East African Community: What does this signify?

25 May 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
In June 2019, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) submitted an application to join the East African Community (EAC). The 21st Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State held on 27th February...read more

Thinking about Trade Governance as Good Governance

24 May 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
During a recent tralac workshop, we included a practical session on remedies for private parties when they encounter customs and border administration problems and when government official...read more

Has the Context changed in which new AfCFTA Protocols are to be adopted?

24 May 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The ideas and decisions to launch the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) were developed and adopted about a decade ago. The world looked different then, and the challenges were f...read more

Global Launch Event: Global Alliance of Special Economic Zones (GASEZ), 17 May 2022

24 May 2022 ~ Audrey Bessette (volunteer)
New global alliance of special economic zones to boost development The Global Alliance of Special Economic Zones (GASEZ) was launched on May 17, 2022, with eight founding members: Africa...read more

Zimbabwe’s latest trade policy pronouncements: Government suspends import duties and removes import licenses on basic commodities

23 May 2022 ~ Rwatida Mafurutu
Read the full blog HERE On the 17th of May 2022, the Zimbabwean government, through the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, introduced Statutory Instrument 98 of 2022 which...read more

Changing port logistics in SADC

16 May 2022 ~ David Christianson
South Africa’s harbours are inefficient and unreliable. After a decade of neglect, government is finally implementing a plan to turn around the situation by attracting private sector inv...read more

Seeing the unseen: Africa’s fastest growing companies

16 May 2022 ~ David Christianson
The Financial Times (FT) index of Africa’s fastest growing companies in 2022, compiled in partnership with data tech company Statista, provides strong evidence for the sometimes conteste...read more

Economic Growth and the Environment – Is Green Growth Possible?

21 Apr 2022 ~ Gita Briel
The idea that we need to decouple economic growth and resource use is promoted by a number of high-level policies, including the European Green Deal and the United Nations Sustainable Deve...read more

How the War in Ukraine has undermined Globalisation

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is in its sixth week now. It has not been the successful Blitzkrieg that Vladimir Putin had hoped for. Ukrainian forces are putting up a brave defence of th...read more

African Union Assembly Decision of February 2022 on Trade in Goods under the AfCFTA

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The Decisions, Declarations, Resolution and Motions adopted at the Thirty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly, which took place in Addis Ababa on 5-6 February 2022, h...read more

Recent African Union Assembly Decisions on AfCFTA Support

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg
The thirty-fifth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly, which took place in Addis Ababa on 5-6 February 2022, produced a detailed document containing several decisions and de...read more

Trade in Services Negotiations Update

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg
The Decisions, Declarations, Resolution and Motions adopted at the Thirty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Assembly took place in Addis Ababa on 5-6 February 2022. The Deci...read more

The AfCFTA Tariff Negotiations face unique Challenges

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg
Preferential trade in goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will only become possible once schedules of tariff concessions have been agreed and have entered into for...read more

Reciprocity in the AfCFTA Negotiations

11 Apr 2022 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
There are two sets of norms governing the negotiations for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and its Protocols. They are the guiding principles and the modalities ...read more

Africa’s Gold Rush shifts West

30 Mar 2022 ~ David Christianson
It is widely known that South Africa’s gold mining industry has been in decline for many years. But what may be less well-known outside specialist circles is the extent to which West Afr...read more

Time to bring coherence to South Africa’s energy future

28 Mar 2022 ~ David Christianson
By the end of March, the route plan for South Africa’s return to energy security was looking more murky than ever with possible plans for gas, renewables and nuclear jostling for positio...read more

Net zero is a problem for African development

28 Mar 2022 ~ David Christianson
The possibility of a global ban on fossil fuels has ominous developmental implications for much of Africa. Nearly 50 percent of the continent’s exports are made up of hydrocarbon product...read more
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