How about the ratification of the agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)? This is a question that we are entitled to ask eight months after its negotiation at the 30th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, January 2018.

The initiative that is expected to create a more than one billion people-large continental market seems to face many difficulties getting started. After the last Nouakchott Summit, only 6 countries had ratified the agreement. A “significant progress” (according to Paul Kagame, AU’s current Chair), which is useful to mirror with the way ahead: nearly 90% of African countries have not yet ratified the (CFTA) agreement, which requires 22 ratifications to entry into force.

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