Zodwa Mabuza
Principal Regional Integration Officer, African Development Bank Group
Blog Article List
Trudi Hartzenberg (ex officio)
Executive Director, tralac (South Africa)
George Lipimile (Chairman)
Director and Chief Executive Officer, COMESA Competition Commission (Zambia)
tralac Newsletter
tralac’s electronic newsletter focuses on topics of special interest to Africa’s trade and regional integration agendas, as well as highlighting tralac’s policy dialogue, research and capacity-building activities. We also include updates from AGOA.info.
To receive our e-Newsletter by email, please click here to subscribe.
Current issue
Download tralac’s commentary in this Newsletter on the GTI here.
Past Issues
February 28, 2024: Movement of persons in Africa
February 2, 2024: First Newsletter for 2024
December 21, 2023: Final Newsletter for 2023
December 19, 2023: COP28 and SheGovernsTrade
December 14, 2023: AGOA Newsletter
November 10, 2023: Terms used in the AfCFTA legal instruments
August 23, 2023: The AfCFTA, regional developments, and focus on North Africa
May 26, 2023: Annual Conference Newsletter
April 11, 2023: The trade-climate landscape
March 9, 2023: International Women’s Day
February 6, 2023: First Newsletter for 2023
December 23, 2022: Final tralac Newsletter for 2022
December 1, 2022: Reflection and review of COP27
November 7, 2022: Reporting on the 2022 Annual and Alumni Conferences
September 10, 2022: tralac Annual Conference newsletter
June 2022: Trade facilitation and dispute settlement under the AfCFTA
April 2022: A look at matters high up on the African continental trade and development agenda
March 2022: Updates on the AfCFTA and war in Ukraine
January 2022: First tralac newsletter for 2022
December 2021: Review of an extraordinary year
October 2021: Systemic issues in African trade and topical global developments
September 2021: Dispute settlement in intra-African trade and economic integration
August 2021: Update on the AfCFTA negotiations
July 2021: Annual Conference 2021
April 2021: Investment issues in the AfCFTA
March 2021: Women in trade governance and the AfCFTA negotiations
January 2021: Welcome to tralac’s first newsletter for 2021
December 2020: End of 2020 reflections on trade and trade-related developments in Africa
November 2020: Start of trading under the AfCFTA regime
October 2020: Trade and related data matters
September 2020: tralac Annual Conference Report
August 2020: Industrial development and policy for Africa
pdf July 2020: Update on the African Continental Free Trade Area (8.88 MB) . Read it online.
pdf June 2020: Perspectives on trade-related issues that matter for Africa’s youth (9.50 MB) . Read it online.
pdf May 2020: COVID-19 and its impact (3.00 MB) . Read it online.
pdf April 2020: Special Edition on COVID-19 (1.33 MB) . Read it online.
pdf March 2020: Update on the AfCFTA (2.68 MB) . Read it online.
February 2020: tralac’s first newsletter for 2020
December 2019: tralac’s final newsletter for 2019
October 2019: Trade in services in the AfCFTA
August 2019: Institutions as the Anchor of Good Governance
July 2019: Dispute settlement in trade agreements
April 2019: The AfCFTA enters into force on 30 May
March 2019: Reflections on the tralac Annual Conference in Nairobi and AfCFTA developments
February 2019: South Africa – Where does economic policy and governance stand?
pdf January 2019: Developments to be monitored during 2019 (4.77 MB) . Read it online.
December 2018: Where do we stand on trade policy matters at the end of 2018?
November 2018: The Southern African Customs Union
pdf October 2018: The Multilateral Trading System – quo vadis? (1.10 MB) Read it online.
September 2018: Developments in Dispute Settlement in International Trade.
pdf August 2018: Women and trade (1.23 MB) . Read it online.
pdf July 2018: SADC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (1.05 MB) . Read it online.
pdf June 2018: The African Continental Free Trade Area (865 KB) . Read it online.
Taku Fundira
Taku has more than 10 years’ experience particularly in international trade; economic development; research and policy advocacy, in East and Southern Africa. Key areas of interest include trade statistics; econometric modelling; trade and agricultural policy as well as market access issues. He is currently focusing on regional and global socio-economic policy and development issues aimed at addressing poverty and inequality in Southern Africa and how trade can work for the poor and marginalized. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Agricultural Economics from Stellenbosch University.
Cecilia Punt
Cecilia Punt is a lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Stellenbosch in Econometrics, International Trade and General Equilibrium Modelling. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Stellenbosch. She previously worked at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture as manager of the Macro-economics Division in the Agricultural Economics Programme, and as the project leader of the Provincial Decision-making Enabling (PROVIDE) Project.
Funding Profile
tralac is incorporated as a non-profit company in terms of the South African Companies Act 71 of 2008. tralac voluntarily complies with the enhanced accountability requirements in Part C of Chapter 3 of the Act for the appointment of an external auditor and to have its annual financial statements audited.
tralac’s activities and programmes are primarily funded by international donors. Currently, the following donors are supporting tralac:
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Publications
tralac promotes active debate on trade law and policy issues in Africa and engages in applied trade law and policy analysis with the aim of addressing the most pressing trade matters for countries in the region. In brief, tralac develops trade law and policy intellectual capital: this involves monitoring trade negotiations, interpretation of agreements, contribution to debates and discussions on trade developments. Our research is presented in the following different formats: Trade Briefs, Trade Reports, Books, Policy Briefs, and Questions & Answers (FAQs), among others.
Featured Publications
Trade Briefs
Short, non-technical papers dealing with relevant trade law and policy issues, aimed at senior policymakers and non-state actors.
Does Africa have two trade liberalisation and economic integration strategies? Comparing the AfCFTA Agreement and the Abuja Treaty
Gerhard Erasmus - 25 Feb 2024
Bangladesh’s upcoming graduation from LDC status, its amended provisions for the protection of Patents and its ongoing use of the WTO TRIPS flexibilities
Abrie du Plessis - 25 Feb 2024
Trading under the COMESA Simplified Trading Regime: Review of Zimbabwe-Zambia-Malawi
Taku Fundira - 09 Jan 2024
Trade Reports
Detailed analysis of trade issues which contribute to the body of intellectual capital on trade matters for the region, targeted at policymakers, analysts and trade advisors.
Climate-backed Financing in Africa and Its Impact on Energy Mix, Infrastructure Development, Storage, and Trade of Surpluses
Gavin van der Nest - 08 Apr 2024
Empowering Women in Trade: Charting Female Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Africa’s Service Sector
Gavin van der Nest - 04 Apr 2024
Africa’s Trade in Wildlife Commodities – data, regulation and sustainability challenges
Taku Fundira - 29 Feb 2024
Books
Collections of papers presenting a detailed analysis of a range of related trade matters, written specifically for the region.
African Trade and Integration: Law, Practice and the Courts
Gerhard Erasmus, Dawid van Wyk, Creck Buyonge Mirito and Trudi Hartzenberg - 14 Oct 2022
Monitoring Regional Integration Yearbook 2019/20: Agriculture and food security in Africa
- 30 Apr 2020
Africa’s Production and Trade: Agriculture and minerals
Ron Sandrey, Fezeka Matebeni, Camille Andriamahatana, Ashly Hope, Willemien Viljoen, Mary Mwaangireni, Ayabonga Sibulali and Dorica Singini - 13 Mar 2020
Monitoring Regional Integration in Southern Africa Yearbook 2017/18
Trudi Hartzenberg, Gerhard Erasmus, Paul Kalenga and Talkmore Chidede (eds) - 06 Nov 2018
RSS Feeds
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What is RSS?
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How do I get a RSS Reader?
Various types of news readers are available.
RSS Readers can be downloaded free here:
RSS Owl - www.rssowl.org
Feedreader - www.feedreader.com
Alternatively, use a web- or browser-based feed reader, such as:
iGoogle - www.google.com/ig
Google Reader - www.google.com/reader
Bloglines - www.bloglines.com
Henry Kibet Mutai
Dr Henry Kibet Mutai is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over twenty years of experience in practice and academia. He holds a PhD in international trade law from the University of Melbourne as well as Master of Laws degrees from Temple University in the US and the University of Melbourne. He served as the Managing Director of the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) for a period of three years, and is currently a consultant as well as an adjunct lecturer at Riara University in Nairobi. His areas of expertise include regional integration, international trade law and intellectual property law.