During the 13th Extraordinary Session on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement held virtually on 5 December 2020, the Assembly of the African Union (AU) adopted the historic decision for the state parties to start trading under this continent-wide economic configuration. The purpose of the extraordinary session of the Assembly was to consider the adoption of the legal instruments that would enable parties to start trading with effect from 1 January 2021. The whole world, Africa included, has been waiting for this epic moment for years, given that this journey started decades ago. Notably, during this long, arduous, and tedious economic journey, several African countries have had time to renew and refocus their resolve towards embracing economic regeneration through intra-trading via this mega economic platform. Among such countries is the Republic of Zimbabwe.

This paper looks at the domestication process of AfCFTA and the progress made by Zimbabwe so far towards operationalizing this Agreement. It begins by giving a short background to AfCFTA. This is followed by a brief reflection of the key milestones achieved in the process leading to the commencement of trading under AfCFTA. It concludes by outlining some benefits due to Zimbabwe which are associated with the expedited trading under the AfCFTA.

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