The Advent of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as a Tool for Development
| Published date | 01 May 2021 |
| Date | 01 May 2021 |
| Author | Omphemetse S. Sibanda, Sr |
| DOI | 10.1177/0015732521995171 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The Advent of the
African Continental
Free Trade Agreement
as a Tool for
Development
Omphemetse S. Sibanda, Sr1
Abstract
Modelled on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the African
Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), signed at the Extraordinary Summit
of the African Union, which convened in Kigali, Rwanda, on 21 March 2018, is
designed to facilitate a single continental trade regulation and integration frame-
work for trade disciplines and intentioned to boost intra-Africa trade. AfCFTA
came on the backdrop of not less than eight regional economic communities
(RECs), which are loosely regulated. The study finds that AfCFTA can become
a beacon of development in the African continent, provided an array of issues
including addressing the multiplicity of RECs, putting in place a Development-
focused migration and labour policy or developing a side labour agreement similar
to that of NAFTA to address other issues like harmonisation of treatment and
conditions of workforce and pursuing industrialisation that will help manage the
negative spillovers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
JEL Codes: C23, F10, F13, F14, F15, F17, F19, K33, K41
Keywords
AfCFTA, Intra-Africa Trade, RECs, job creation, labour mobility and protection,
liberalisation
Article
1 Faculty of Management & Law, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa.
Corresponding author:
Omphemetse S. Sibanda, Sr, Faculty of Management & Law, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South
Africa.
E-mail: Omphemetse.sibanda@ul.ac.za
Foreign Trade Review
56(2) 216–224, 2021
© 2021 Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade
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DOI: 10.1177/0015732521995171
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