The Treatment Of Least Developing Countries (ldcs) In African Continental Free Tread Area (afcfta)

AfCFTA is a trade agreement between AU member states, aiming at creating a single continental market for goods and services as well as a customs union with free movement of persons and capital. Among its expected key benefits is the promise to create a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of people and investments, thus expanding intra-African trade across the continent, enhancing competitiveness and supporting economic transformation in Africa. However, intra-African trade remains dominated by a few big economic powers in the region. To this end, there have been growing fears that countries with large productive capacities in manufacturing or stronger supply capacities in non-manufactured products may gain more rewards than fragile landlocked and smaller economies, particularly LDCs. These concerns have led those countries to pushing for SDT in the implementation of the AfCFTA’s provisions concerning goods, services and dispute settlement Thus; this paper assesses the case for SDT in the AfCFTA and analyzes the particular provisions provided for it in the AfCFTA. It concludes with recommendations to ensure that, in implementing the AfCFTA, Africa’s LDCs can be supported to gain significantly from the AfCFTA and gain from its provisions on SDT.

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