Purpose

This paper aims to examine the road ahead for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), focusing on its potential opportunities and challenges. It is intended to help the AfCFTA’s effective implementation by highlighting the major areas of intervention for State Parties.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyses relevant economic, political and legal research sources on regional integration in Africa and offers some personal views of the author to evaluate the past, present and future of the AfCFTA.

Findings

The paper shows that the AfCFTA can support its State Parties’ industrialization and diversification, better integrate micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to regional value chains, create jobs, encourage sustainable investments and help its State Parties have common positions on global issues and achieve development. But, it also shows the challenges facing the AfCFTA, which include infrastructure gap, revenue and job losses, overlapping membership of State Parties in Regional Economic Communities, cumbersome customs systems, difficulty to cross African borders, fledgling MSMEs and inadequate technical capacity on trade policy. Accordingly, it recommends that State Parties continuously take various actions to address these challenges and maximize the multiple benefits of the AfCFTA.

Originality/value

The paper provides a comprehensive and up-to-date appraisal of the opportunities and challenges of the AfCFTA, both in the context of the history of regional integration in Africa and the recent global shocks that adversely impacted the continent (COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine).

中文翻译：

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非洲大陆自由贸易区：非洲大陆大胆一体化项目的前进之路

目的

本文旨在探讨非洲大陆自由贸易区（AfCFTA）的未来道路，重点关注其潜在的机遇和挑战。它旨在通过强调缔约国干预的主要领域来帮助非洲大陆自由贸易区的有效实施。

设计/方法论/途径

本文分析了非洲区域一体化的相关经济、政治和法律研究来源，并提出了一些作者的个人观点，以评价非洲大陆自由贸易区的过去、现在和未来。

发现

文件表明，非洲大陆自由贸易区可以支持其缔约国的工业化和多元化，更好地将微型、小型和中型企业（MSME）融入区域价值链，创造就业机会，鼓励可持续投资并帮助其缔约国达成共同立场解决全球性问题，实现发展。但是，它也显示了非洲大陆自由贸易区面临的挑战，包括基础设施差距、收入和就业损失、区域经济共同体缔约国成员资格重叠、繁琐的海关系统、跨越非洲边境的困难、新兴的中小微企业以及贸易政策技术能力不足。因此，它建议缔约国继续采取各种行动应对这些挑战，并最大限度地发挥非洲大陆自由贸易区的多重效益。

原创性/价值

该文件在非洲区域一体化历史和近期对非洲大陆产生不利影响的全球冲击（COVID-19 和战争）的背景下，对非洲大陆自由贸易区的机遇和挑战进行了全面、最新的评估。在乌克兰）。