tralac’s primary aim is to help build capacity for government officials, policymakers, and regional organisations to more adequately address the most pressing trade matters facing countries in the east and southern Africa region today. Work in this area examines the challenges and opportunities associated with Africa’s current regional integration agenda and quest to boost intra-African trade; issues related to the negotiation, design, architecture, and implementation of the TFTA and AfCFTA; why rules-based governance matters for African trade and integration; and the need to shape a new African integration paradigm that effectively addresses the practical realities of trade, investment, production networks, and integration in the 21st century global economy.

The new realities of the global trading system and improved services trade has made logistics and other trade facilitation measures increasingly important in regional and integrational trade. tralac’s work in this area focuses on the particular trade and transport facilitation needs and priorities for developing (African) countries and how they can be better implemented in order to contribute to sustainability and economic development. The World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement entered into force in early 2017 and could have massive implications for poorer countries looking to integrated into the global economy.

International trade and the global economy have undergone significant changes in recent years as a result of improved technology, a shift towards trade in services, and increasing integration through the dismantling of the production process across borders and expansion of global (and regional) value chains. tralac’s work in this area examines the implications of the rapidly changing 21st century economic landscape for global and regional trade governance, and how trade policy can be used to promote the effective integration and upgrading of developing countries in today’s global economy.

Financial services, foreign investment, and international aid are essential for improved trade and long-term development in poor economies. tralac’s work in this area examines how development finance and trade opportunities (achieved through, among other things, better access to trade finance and Aid for Trade, enhanced soft and hard infrastructure, and improved access to technology and related services) could be leveraged for the promotion of inclusive growth and sustainable development of developing countries and LDCs.

The development of rules-based governance for regional trade and integration in Africa has become an important focus area for tralac. Trade agreements, accompanied by the necessary disciplines and institutions to ensure effective implementation, need to engender predictability and a degree of transparency so that the economic gains underpinning free trade and integration efforts are equitably distributed. tralac’s work in this area includes the role of competition policy, investment policy, and regulatory regimes in hindering or promoting regional trade, and examining ways in which regulatory and non-tariff barriers to trade could be more effectively managed by governments and regional organisations. Dispute settlement mechanisms and use of trade remedies are also considered.