ISDS Case Map
AfCFTA
African Continental Free Trade Area
The fears that Nigeria might become a dumping ground for manufactured goods, especially with the advent of the AfCFTA, has heightened as Nigeria’s Trade in Goods Statistics show rising deficit in manufactured goods trade.
AfCFTA has materialized at a time when globalization is being used to hide all sorts of ambitions including the second empire and colonialism. AfCFTA is not just about the economy and markets, it is also a political setup from the African Union and African Development Bank.
The African Trade Policy Centre is preparing the first ever Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the AfCFTA to guide on how environmental considerations can be effectively incorporated into the agreement.
The AfCFTA will give the African Union the chance to become a strong, independent player in the world economy – at least that is the optimistic forecast. But there are good reasons to cast doubt on the high hopes pinned on the African free trade area.
Ghana government has waived import duties on imported equipment, machines and raw materials for local manufacturing companies to enable them to become competitive in the global marketplace.
The Council of Ministers of the Southern African Development Community has urged Member States that have not yet signed and ratified the AfCFTA and the TFTA to do so to allow for the implementation of the agreements.
The AfCFTA Secretariat and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) today have signed a strategic partnership to promote trade as a stimulus for Africa’s socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
The government of Ghana has expressed its interest in concluding the negotiations with Japan on the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which has been pending since April 2014.
The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) may enslave Africans to the rest of the world if the challenges associated with the programme are not fixed, the Citizen Watch, a think tank group has revealed.
Only 21% of cases administered by ICSID involve African investors, however, this may change with the introduction of AfCFTA, and we may begin to see more disputes involving African investors and African states.
