Niamey, Niger – The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat launched the much-anticipated Trade in Services Regulatory Audit Reports, which have been prepared with the support of the World Bank Group (WBG), the International Trade Center (ITC), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the European Union (EU) and the German Agency for International Development (GIZ).
The launch took place on the margins of the 17th Extraordinary Assembly of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Niamey, Niger and was attended by representation from AfCFTA Member States, partnering organisations and the private sector.
The AfCFTA Trade in Services Regulatory Audits are designed to support Phase I negotiations on Trade in Services under the AfCFTA. They quantify restrictions on foreign entry and movement of people, barriers to competition, regulatory transparency and other discriminatory measures that impact the ease of doing business in trade in services. This detailed database is therefore a key resource for guiding different stakeholders including Governments, trade negotiators, investors, traders and SMEs in navigating trade in services across the Continent.
The Reports have been prepared for the fifty-four (54) African countries signatory to the AfCFTA Agreement and, cover the five priority sectors (Business Services, Communication Services, Financial Services, Tourism Services, and Transportation Services) as well as Construction, Distribution and Health Services sectors, which are expected to be negotiated in the second round of Trade in Services negotiations.
The main objectives of the AfCFTA Trade in Services Regulatory Audit Reports are to assist governments in AfCFTA negotiations and other trade negotiations (RECs, FTA, WTO); foster transparency of services policies; support national policy reform, and quantify restrictiveness of policies.
The conclusion of this work and launching of these reports is indeed a momentous event and a great achievement as this intensive work was commenced three (3 years) ago in 2019 by the African Union, in collaboration with the supporting partners.
The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat Wamkele Mene, speaking on the launch of the AfCFTA Trade in Services Regulatory Audit Reports, said “The Secretariat will provide the required technical support, to ensure that each State Party has the capacity to understand and utilize the reports effectively in the services negotiations and ultimately the smooth implementation of the Protocol on Trade in Services.”
Meanwhile, the Country Manager of the World Bank in Niger, Han Fraeters, highlighted that “this is the first time ever that an effort of this magnitude is conducted in the context of services trade policy making, both in terms of the number of countries audited, as well as the depth of the information collected, not only focusing on market access negotiations, but also for negotiations to develop regulatory frameworks in the African continent, domestic regulation negotiations, or more broadly policy reform and services trade research work”.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want and entered into force on 30 May 2019. It is a high ambition trade agreement, which aims to bring together all 55 Member States of the African Union, covering a market of more than 1.3 billion people, with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy, such as digital trade and investment protection, amongst other areas.
By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the AfCFTA is to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all services sectors of Africa’s economy, at a potential of 52.3 percent.
