The Challenge of Overlapping Regional Economic Communities in Africa: Lessons for the Continental Free Trade Area from the Failures of the Tripartite Free Trade Area

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-141
Author(s):  
Melaku Geboye Desta ◽  
Guillaume Gérout
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Trade Area

THE ROLE OF SADC IN BOOSTING DOMESTIC, REGIONAL, CONTINENTAL AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-98
Author(s):  
Ghazala Begum Essop
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Customs Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Trade Area

The role of regional economic communities in the development of trade in Africa is widely recognised. Currently, intra-African trade stands at 10 per cent. This is in sharp contrast to other developing regions of the world. In Asia and Latin America, the levels of intra-trade are 50 and 26 per cent, respectively. There are a number of reasons accounting for the low level of intra-African trade, including the weak mandate given to regional economic communities to monitor and enforce the commitments assumed by countries under regional trade agreements. The lack of integration has negatively impacted on African countries and affected their ability to attract foreign direct investment commensurate with their development needs. Had African countries been less exposed to external markets, they would have been minimally affected by the global financial crisis. The importance of boosting intra-African trade was highlighted by Africa’s Heads of State and Government when they devoted this year’s summit to this theme. In the run-up to the summit, the African Union Commission released a study that underscored the importance of regional economic communities in the process of economic integration in Africa. Currently, SADC member states are in the process of implementing the SADC Trade Protocol, which would create a fully-fledged free trade area and later a customs union, and at the same time engaged in tripartite negotiations aimed at merging the three (SADC, COMESA and the EAC) regional configurations. They are also engaged in the EPA negotiations with the European Union, which would create a free trade area and also the Doha negotiations under the auspices of the WTO. The main objective of this article is to estimate SADC countries’ bilateral trade potential, which may result in the improvements in trade facilitation.

Designing an AfCFTA-Driven Continent-Wide Competition Policy Around the Regional Economic Communities

2021 ◽  
pp. 0003603X2110457
Author(s):  
Fiona Okadia ◽  
Emmanuel Wa-Kyendo ◽  
Melody Njeru ◽  
Darmi Jattani ◽  
Leo Kemboi
Keyword(s):  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Policy Proposals

Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement will lead to liberalization of trade in Africa, thus expanding the market for African products and services. Expansion of markets necessitates development of a regulatory framework that will promote healthy competition among businesses and protect consumers’ welfare. The Agreement recognizes this fact and has set out the Competition Protocol among the key enablers of its success. Since the regional economic communities (RECs) are the building blocks of the continental wide free trade area, the analysis of their regional competition regime is paramount for providing insight that will guide the development of the Competition Protocol. This article responds to this need by analyzing Africa’s four largest RECs and providing policy proposals on how the continental competition policy should be fashioned. Specifically, this article looks at the RECs’ institutional structure, principles, and carries out a legal, economic, and political analysis on the same. It examines how these laws relate to the three elements (abuse of dominance, anticompetitive mergers, and acquisitions) of competition policy and the challenges that they pose in achieving AfCFTA’s goal. It also looks into the challenges that affect trade and fair competition in the region. Finally, it offers proposals on the competition framework that bridge the gap between the AfCFTA Agreement objectives and the African economic, political, and legal realities.

scholarly journals Reimagining the Framework for Resolving Intra-African Commercial Disputes in the Context of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-468
Author(s):  
Emilia Onyema
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Resolution Process ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
One Stop ◽  
Peculiar Nature ◽  
Commercial Disputes

AbstractThis article examines the effectiveness of the framework for the resolution of intra-African cross-border commercial disputes, arising from the projected increase in intra-African trade in goods, services, and investments under the African Continental Free Trade Area. It examines the peculiar nature of intra-African trade and of the participating entities to provide the context to discuss the three major processes adopted in commercial dispute resolution (litigation, mediation, and arbitration) in Africa. It then argues for the promotion of arbitration as the dispute resolution process of choice for such disputes. It reimagined the framework for arbitration at the continental level and made two proposals targeted at the greater efficiency of the process: the designation of Regional Arbitration Centres across the African Union's eight recognized Regional Economic Communities, to administer such references; and the establishment of an African Commercial Court as a one-stop court for the enforcement or annulment of the final award.

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