Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa

On the 21st March 2018, leaders from across the African continent met at an extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda to sign a deal for the formation of an African continental free trade area (AfCFTA). This step is perhaps the biggest leap towards the age-long dream of cross-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
Other Authors: Ordor, Ada
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Commercial Law 2020
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613306259243008
access_status_str Open Access
author Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
author2 Ordor, Ada
author_browse Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
Ordor, Ada
author_facet Ordor, Ada
Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
author_sort Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
collection Thesis
description On the 21st March 2018, leaders from across the African continent met at an extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda to sign a deal for the formation of an African continental free trade area (AfCFTA). This step is perhaps the biggest leap towards the age-long dream of cross-border economic integration on the African continent since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. With the continent’s population expected to hit the two billion mark in 2050, it seems the pact could not have come at a better time. Africa, the subject of the agreement, consists of fifty- five States which collectively, is a 1.2 billion people large market however possessing a joint GDP of only $2.5 trillion dollars. If negotiations are concluded, the African continent would have succeeded in the creation of the largest free trade area since the Marrakesh agreement which led to the WTO governed multilateral trading system. Today the top trading partners of African Union member States are non-African countries. Only twenty per cent of Africa’s total trade is with its continental neighbours, whereas an estimated eighty per cent of its trade is with other trading partners across the world. The African continental free trade initiative aims to shift the trade paradigm in this regard, in a way that will increase the region’s share of its internal trade and consequently lead to growth and development. It is against this background that this work assesses the prospects of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) towards meeting the goal of continental development. This research argues that the development integration approach is the most suitable option for the attainment of the ambitious goals of the initiative. In particular, the work explores the ways in which the new AfCFTA can manage the asymmetrical developmental needs of various African States. The research also assesses the dispute settlement mechanisms which are necessary to resolve friction which may arise as deeper levels of integration are attained.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31066
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:00.978Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher Department of Commercial Law
publisherStr Department of Commercial Law
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/31066 From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa Nagu, Yakubu Idisire Ordor, Ada International Trade Law On the 21st March 2018, leaders from across the African continent met at an extraordinary summit of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda to sign a deal for the formation of an African continental free trade area (AfCFTA). This step is perhaps the biggest leap towards the age-long dream of cross-border economic integration on the African continent since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. With the continent’s population expected to hit the two billion mark in 2050, it seems the pact could not have come at a better time. Africa, the subject of the agreement, consists of fifty- five States which collectively, is a 1.2 billion people large market however possessing a joint GDP of only $2.5 trillion dollars. If negotiations are concluded, the African continent would have succeeded in the creation of the largest free trade area since the Marrakesh agreement which led to the WTO governed multilateral trading system. Today the top trading partners of African Union member States are non-African countries. Only twenty per cent of Africa’s total trade is with its continental neighbours, whereas an estimated eighty per cent of its trade is with other trading partners across the world. The African continental free trade initiative aims to shift the trade paradigm in this regard, in a way that will increase the region’s share of its internal trade and consequently lead to growth and development. It is against this background that this work assesses the prospects of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) towards meeting the goal of continental development. This research argues that the development integration approach is the most suitable option for the attainment of the ambitious goals of the initiative. In particular, the work explores the ways in which the new AfCFTA can manage the asymmetrical developmental needs of various African States. The research also assesses the dispute settlement mechanisms which are necessary to resolve friction which may arise as deeper levels of integration are attained. 2020-02-13T08:48:12Z 2020-02-13T08:48:12Z 2019 2020-02-13T07:21:40Z Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31066 eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle International Trade Law
Nagu, Yakubu Idisire
From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
title_full From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
title_fullStr From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
title_full_unstemmed From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
title_short From OAU To AFCTA - Analysing The Prospects For Economic Development In Africa
title_sort from oau to afcta analysing the prospects for economic development in africa
topic International Trade Law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31066
work_keys_str_mv AT naguyakubuidisire fromoautoafctaanalysingtheprospectsforeconomicdevelopmentinafrica