News
Update on the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)
Document prepared ahead of the Seventh Conference of African Ministers in Charge of Integration (COMAI VII), taking place from 14-18 July 2014 in Ezulwini, Swaziland under the theme “Infrastructure for integration of Africa”.
PROGRESS REPORT ON THE CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA
The 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012 took a decision to establish a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by an indicative date of 2017. The Summit also endorsed the Action Plan on Boosting Intra Africa Trade (BIAT) which identifies seven clusters; trade policy, trade facilitation, productive capacity, trade related infrastructure, trade finance, trade information and factor market integration. The CFTA will bring together fifty-four African countries with a combined population of more than one billion people and a combined gross domestic product of more than US $3.4 trillion. Such a market creates opportunities for scale production for producers in the continent. The Heads of State and Government demonstrated their commitment to fast tracking the establishment of the CFTA by requesting AU Ministers of Trade to prepare for the launch of the CFTA negotiations by 2015.
According to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the level of intra-African trade in 2012 was 12.8% which is very low compared to other regions in the world. The share of Africa’s total exports in global trade flows is 3.5% which is also extremely low compared to other regions. An African exporter faces an average non-agriculture applied tariff protection rate of 7.8% which is higher than what the same exporter would face when exporting to Europe and the United States. Trade among Africa’s major economies which do not belong to the same Regional Economic Community is on the basis of the most favoured nation principle. This commercial reality of cross border trade in Africa simply demands that more be done in order to come up with a framework that provides for the reduction of tariffs, elimination of non-tariff barriers and a rules based mechanism for contract enforcement and dispute settlement among other things. The CFTA provides such a framework and is in line with the goal of the Abuja Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community.
In line with the strategic objectives of the Union’s Agenda 2063 Initiative, The CFTA provides a lever that can be used to strategically position the continent to exploit its numerous trade and investment opportunities and contribute positively towards the structural transformation of African economies. In the process of transforming Africa, the CFTA should contribute towards the creation of decent and gainful employment opportunities for African citizens. Overall, trade among African countries should contribute towards poverty eradication and have a positive impact on the lives of citizens.
The move to establish the CFTA comes at a time when seven of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries are in African and the continent also has a fast-growing middle class. Indeed, a lot of positive developments are happening across the continent and Africa is on the rise. It is therefore imperative that the CFTA is designed in such a way that it provides an opportunity to integrate the fragmented national markets into a functional continental market. Yet, pursuing market integration and leaving out important aspects such as trade facilitation, infrastructure and industrial capacity development will not yield the required results. African member states that implement the right policy mix should be able can take advantage of the trade and investment opportunities brought about by the growth that the continent is currently enjoying.
Pursuing the market integration agenda within the broader framework of a developmental regional integration strategy provides an opportunity in which the majority of AU member states can benefit from continental integration. To be able to benefit from continental market integration initiatives, there is need to deploy efforts towards the development of infrastructure, especially projects that enhance regional connectivity. There is also need to focus on ensuring that national productive capacity is enhanced taking advantage of regional and continental market access opportunities. It is equally true that the CFTA will comprise of members at different levels of economic development, hence the need to consider this factor in the principles and modalities of the negotiations.
Long-term success in market integration can be achieved through building globally competitive firms and industries. One of the key elements in developing competitive economies is that the services sector of the economy should function efficiently. In more than half of the countries in Africa, the services sector contributes on average 50% to (Gross Domestic Product) GDP. Most African countries have realised the role that the services sector can play in driving economic growth and employment creation. There is also a realisation that services such as telecommunications; transport, financial and business services are significant enablers in the movement of goods across borders. It is therefore important that the scope of the CFTA is broad enough to include rules and developmental aspects on trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition policy, and competitiveness among other things. Taking into account the fact that in most African the informal sector is enormous, the CFTA should be designed in such a way that it provides opportunities for Small and Medium size Enterprises (SME’s) and also cater for the needs of informal cross-border traders.*
Work done by the Commission on implementing the January 2012 Summit Decision
The establishment of the CFTA and the implementation of the Action Plan on Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) provide a comprehensive framework to pursue a developmental regionalism strategy. The former is conceived as a time bound project, whereas BIAT is continuous with concrete targets to double intra-African trade flows from January 2012 and January 2022. It is therefore imperative that at each level, Member States, RECs and the AUC efforts are undertaken to implement the Action Plan on Boosting Intra African Trade.
The African Union is the key institution in driving Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) initiative, with the Department of Trade and Industry having the primary responsibility for the CFTA within the AU Commission. The CFTA, to be negotiated by AU Member States, should be operationalized by the indicative date of 2017 based on the following appropriate milestones:
i. Finalization of the East African Community (EAC)-Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)-Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tripartite FTA.
ii. Completion of FTA(s) by Non-Tripartite RECs, through parallel arrangement(s) similar to the EAC-COMESA-SADC Tripartite Initiative or reflecting the preferences of their Member States, between 2012 and 2014.
iii. Consolidation of the Tripartite and other regional FTAs into a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) initiative between 2015 and 2016.
iv. Establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017.
As part of the preparations for the launch of the CFTA Negotiations, the Commission has to date organised two Meetings of the Continental Task Force (CTF) on the CFTA. In line with its mandate, the CTF prepared technical documents that were used as a basis for strategic discussions on the CFTA during the Extra Ordinary Session of the Conference of African Union Ministers of Trade (CAMOT) that was held in April 2014.
The Commission working in collaboration with partners is in the process of establishing the African Business Council (ABC). The ABC will act as a necessary platform for aggregating and articulating the views of the private sector in continental policy formulation. The Commission is currently involved in some preparatory activities aimed at operationalizing the African Business Council. It is expected that the African Business Council will be operationalized by 2015.
To ensure effective monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade, the Road Map and the Decision of Summit on the CFTA, a Trade Observatory will be established. The main functions of the Observatory will be to collect information from member states on goods and services trade and industry statistics and information on trade. It will also provide analysis and publish and disseminate such information. The Commission is currently working with partners to operationalise the Trade Observatory by 2015.
Multiple stakeholders are required for the successful negotiation and implementation of the CFTA. These include the private sector, civil society, parliamentarians, academia among others. The African Trade Forum (ATF), which is organised jointly by the AUC and UNECA, was established with a view to create a platform for various stakeholders to reflect and discuss on the progress and challenges of continental market integration. So far, the ATF has been organised twice in 2011 and 2012. Plans are underway to organise the 3rd ATF in 2014 before the Conference of African Union Ministers of Trade.
Ultimately, it is the private sector that will make use of the CFTA, it is therefore important that they are part of the negotiation process. In view of the importance of the private sector in driving regional trade integration in the continent, there is merit in maintaining dialogue between the private and public sector. The private sector should be involved in the process of CFTA negotiations at all levels, national, regional and continental at its initial phases.
Work Plan for the year 2014 on the CFTA
The Extra Ordinary Session of the Conference of African Union Ministers of Trade (CAMOT) endorsed the Work plan for the Department of Trade and Industry for the preparatory phase of the CFTA negotiations. The main work streams identified in the work plan are as follows;
i. Organisation of Regional Consultative Meetings
ii. Commissioning studies and preparing technical documents for the CFTA negotiations
iii. Publicity Campaigns and Communication on the CFTA
iv. Stakeholder engagement events with particular focus on the private sector and parliamentarians.
v. Capacity Building activities for the RECs and Member States
vi. Establishment of the African Business Council and the Trade Observatory
Regarding trade in services, the AUC has commissioned five (5) case studies in Banking Services in Nigeria, Air Transport services in Ethiopia, Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO/ICT) Services in Senegal, Education Services in Uganda and Cultural Services in Burkina Faso with the view of collecting information on best practices on successful service exports. The results of these studies so far suggest that the Service sector is an important opportunity for African countries especially landlocked countries and small island states to benefit and participate meaningfully in continental and global trade.
* 60-70% of African families are in the Informal Sector, and this could explain the reported low levels of intra-Africa Trade that exclude the informal sector.
