Blog
Leveraging Technology to Improve Regulatory Compliance and Trade Efficiency: A Focus on Road Transport
24 Aug 2021 ~ Etiyel Chibira
Road transport is an important mode for Africa’s trade, carrying over 90% of intra-regional and regional trade (Afreximbank: 2019). This is likely to continue into the future in the abse...read more
Improving Customs Efficiency: What are the Gains and For Whom?
24 Aug 2021 ~ Etiyel Chibira
It is imperative for Africa to transform its customs environment through fast-tracking implementation of interventions geared towards eliminating inefficiencies, if the continent is to mak...read more
Improving Border Efficiency in sub-Saharan Africa: The Need to Look at ‘Beyond the Border’ Operations
24 Aug 2021 ~ Etiyel Chibira
Border posts are one of the most important nodes whose performance has a significant bearing on corridor performance, efficiency of supply chains and trade competitiveness. In sub-Saharan ...read more
Harnessing the potential of the AfCFTA
05 Aug 2021 ~ Miracle Okoro
Introduction: The Potential of the AfCFTA
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement has been described as the continent’s most ambitious regional integration initi...read more
Unrest in South Africa: food security and supply chain responses
05 Aug 2021 ~ David Christianson
When South Africa’s most recent spate of civil unrest, triggered when former President Jacob Zuma handed himself over to the Correctional Services facility in Estcourt in KwaZulu Natal, ...read more
Gender-Responsiveness in Trade Agreements – how does the AfCFTA fare?
30 Jul 2021 ~ Lolita Laperle-Forget
Gender mainstreaming in free trade agreements is becoming an increasingly common practice.[1] This involves including provisions to address the specific needs of women and implementing agr...read more
How can the AfCFTA assist Small Scale Traders?
28 Jul 2021 ~ Kimberley Nyajeka
When thinking about international trade, pictures of cargo ships carrying multi-coloured crates or large haulage trucks cruising along an empty highway are usually evoked. While the large-...read more
The role of profit in vaccine development
23 Jul 2021 ~ David Christianson
There has been much comment on the role of big pharmaceutical companies in developing a vaccine against Covid-19. Opinions generally fall into one of two camps: either that it is wrong to ...read more
Covid vaccine manufacturing in Africa – important, but not the first-line response to this pandemic
06 Jul 2021 ~ David Christianson, Trudi Hartzenberg
Many Africans are, quite justifiably, deeply angered at the inequities in the global distribution of vaccines to combat the Covid-19 epidemic. These replicate existing global inequalities ...read more
Trade Facilitation and institutional arrangements under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
03 Jul 2021 ~ Rwatida Mafurutu
Various technical committees are established by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), to assist with the implementation of its Protocols and the respective Annexes to the ...read more
The role of institutional arrangements in the compilation of international merchandise trade and related statistics in Africa
22 Jun 2021 ~ Nomfazwe Matimba
International merchandise trade statistics (IMTS) record the goods crossing a country’s border, either into or out of the country. IMTS measures quantities and values of goods (imports o...read more
The SACUM-UK EPA and TRQs
21 Jun 2021 ~ Taku Fundira
Great Britain has left the European Union’s (EU) single market and customs union. This has meant that the preferential agreement between the EU and the Southern Africa Development Commun...read more
Ramaphosa raises self-generation cap – a promising step in the right direction, but more is needed
21 Jun 2021 ~ David Christianson
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on the 10th June, liberalising a significant part of the electricity supply industry, was as unexpected as it was welcome. Ramaphosa announced th...read more
Update on the Preferential Tariff Rate Quota Utilisation under the EU-SADC EPA
18 Jun 2021 ~ Taku Fundira
EU-SADC EPA a boost from the TDCA for South Africa
The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) EPA count...read more
Telecom license auction in Ethiopia
18 Jun 2021 ~ David Christianson
For the last three years, Ethiopia has been talking about its ambition to liberalise its telecommunications market. This has been a part of a wider programme to liberalise the ‘commandin...read more
Covid accelerates Africa’s medical brain drain
18 Jun 2021 ~ David Christianson
Health professionals are among the most mobile categories of workers in the world. The permanent migration of medical skills from less developed to more affluent countries is not a new iss...read more
Leveraging Technology and Innovation for Africa’s Growth
14 Jun 2021 ~ Monica Werimo
The rise of digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D printing, and blockchain technology all stand to significantly impact trade costs an...read more
The proposed TRIPS Waiver to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
07 Jun 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
In early October 2020, India and South Africa presented a proposal to the TRIPS Council requesting a temporary waiver from the implementation, application, and enforcement of the Agreement...read more
Making the AfCFTA and the RECs work
03 Jun 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are the official pillars of the African Economic Community (AEC). The AEC Treaty (the Abuja Treaty) came into force in May 1994. It provides for th...read more
Are FTAs making a Comeback? In what Guise and with what Rules?
03 Jun 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
In the 1990s there were major concerns about how preferential trade agreements with specific membership configurations would undermine the multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO. ...read more
Economic Integration is a Challenge: Can Variable Geometry help?
03 Jun 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
Trade Liberalisation and economic integration are a process. When sovereign states embark on the road to form Free Trade Areas (FTAs) and customs unions (CUs) they must agree on the extent...read more
REC Integration Approaches and their Implications
03 Jun 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The traditional approach to economic integration in Africa has become increasingly complex. It lacks focus and feasibility. It might be time to take a hard look at the evidence and revisit...read more
Digital nomads – Remote work visas for SA?
31 May 2021 ~ David Christianson
The recent call by the Western Cape government for South Africa to introduce a one-year remote working visa to boost the tourism industry, has implications which go a long way beyond a sma...read more
Illicit Trade Patterns in East and Southern Africa
25 May 2021 ~ David Christianson
Illicit trading along Africa’s Indian Ocean coastline presents a seemingly intractable set of problems. The sheer range of products, the number of entry points and trade routes, and the ...read more
Commemorating Africa Day – 2021
25 May 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus, Trudi Hartzenberg
Today is Africa Day. How should it be commemorated in the year 2021 and how should this occasion be used to tackle the crises of our times?
Africa Day (formerly African Freedom Day and Af...read more
Trade remedies and trade disputes: the case of the US-EU large aircraft dispute, and how these disputes can offer opportunities for South Africa’s wine exports to the United States
26 Apr 2021 ~ Eckart Naumann
One of the primary intentions of WTO laws is to create a more even and fair playing field with respect to trade between WTO member states, and to ensure that trade takes place on a general...read more
Design and Architecture of the AfCFTA Investment Protocol
16 Apr 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The international legal instrument to be adopted as the AfCFTA Protocol on Investment will constitute a binding international agreement for the AU Member States that have ratified this ins...read more
The International Regulation of Investment is not a recent Phenomenon
16 Apr 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
Investment matters have been on the international agenda for a long time but there is no multilateral investment treaty. Post-World War II discussions included investment issues. The propo...read more
How will the AfCFTA Investment Protocol work?
16 Apr 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
International investment agreements (IIAs) are international legal instruments that address issues relevant to cross-border investments, usually for the purpose of protecting, promoting, a...read more
Regional Economic Communities and the AfCFTA Investment Protocol
16 Apr 2021 ~ Gerhard Erasmus
The legal regimes of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs)[1] recognised by the AfCFTA Agreement as building blocks of the African Continental Free Trade Area will not disappear w...read more