Tag: RECs
Making the AfCFTA and the RECs work
03 Jun 21 BlogThe 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 provide...
REC Integration Approaches and their Implications
03 Jun 21 BlogThe 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...
Regional Economic Communities and the AfCFTA Investment Protocol
16 Apr 21 BlogThe 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 dis...
Are African RECs Trade-Enhancing? A Panel Data Analysis
19 Feb 21 PublicationsThis paper employs both informal and formal analysis of panel trade and tariff data to determine the extent to which the gaining of preferential access to a market actually leads t...
AfCFTA Parallelism and the Acquis
10 Feb 21 BlogAccording to the Governing Principles of the AfCFTA, the RECs’ Free Trade Areas (FTAs) are building blocks for the AfCFTA.[1] The AfCFTA shall also be governed by the preservatio...
Will the AfCFTA tackle Non-Tariff Barriers as a Governance Issue?
11 Dec 20 PublicationsWhen one speaks to the private sector operators (freight forwarders in particular) involved in the business of clearing goods for export to African states, their biggest complaints...
AfCFTA negotiations: the current state of REC liberalisation and intra-REC trade
17 Nov 20 InfographicsArticle 19(2) of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement states that ‘other RECs, regional trade arrangements and customs unions which have attained among them...
tralac Daily News
11 Nov 20 NewsNational
Agri sector predicted to show positive growth (IOL)
Although the agriculture sector was expected to show positive growth next year, the Agribusiness Business Chamber (Ag...
AU Heads of State at the 2nd Mid-Year Coordination Meeting call on political and social actors to respect human rights and the rule of law
23 Oct 20 NewsFive years after the adoption of the Africa Agenda 2063 and its vision for greater African economic and political integration, and taking into consideration that next year marks th...
African Union 2nd Mid-Year Coordination Meeting closes with a resolve to strengthen collaboration in line with the principle of subsidiarity
23 Oct 20 NewsMeeting ends with resolve to strengthen collaboration between the AU, RECs, RMs, the Member States, and other continental institutions
The virtual meeting that took place on 22nd ...
Continental and Regional Trade Regimes Need Proper Management to Succeed
20 Oct 20 NewsThere is need for proper management of the interface between the continental and the regional free trade regimes to generate a range of win-win outcomes for various stakeholders in...
tralac Daily News
22 Sep 20 NewsNational news
Corruption an ‘added burden’ in fight against Covid-19, says Mkhize (The Citizen)
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has decried how corruption, particularly in prici...
Do the Regional Economic Communities protect basic Human Rights?
28 Jul 20 BlogAfrica’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have been receiving more than the usual amount of attention lately because eight of them have been identified as the building blocks...
tralac’s Daily News Selection
24 Jul 20 NewsKenya’s Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development posts a call for consultants to provide technical assistance towards the negotiations for the proposed FTA...
Do African RECs Increase Intra-African Trade? Some Evidence from Uganda
24 Jul 20 BlogRegional economic communities (RECs) come in various shapes and sizes. From the highly integrated European Union (EU) to the long-lived Southern African Customs Union (SACU), to th...
African Continental Free Trade Agreement – what can the AfCFTA add to trade liberalisation if the regional economic communities remain?
25 Jun 20 PublicationsIn 2018, only 15 per cent of Africa’s exports were intra-Africa, of which most were exports among African countries which are members of the same regional economic communities (R...
Communique of the video-teleconference meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State and Government with Chairpersons of the AU RECs
17 Jun 20 NewsHis Excellency, President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) convened a video-teleconference Meeting of the Bureau ...
The Implications of COVID-19 for regional trade
25 May 20 BlogCOVID-19 is a global pandemic and will have severe implications for African nations. Inadequate public facilities, wide-spread poverty and crowded living conditions make them parti...
Africa Regional Integration Index says continent can build more resilient economies through integration
22 May 20 NewsThe second Africa Regional Integration Index (ARII 2019) was launched Friday by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank and the African Union Commiss...
African regional responses to COVID-19
19 May 20 NewsThere is widespread recognition that the novel coronavirus is a global challenge. In order to contain the virus and address its devastating secondary effects, global collective act...