The agreement could go beyond economics towards the political unification of Africa
It is curious that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement has come into force ahead of the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement.
It is expected that the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement will come into force this year. Then what of the AfCFTA? There are many complexities that hopefully have been addressed. What is the real future of regional economic communities? What is to become of existing customs unions and monetary communities? What would be an ideal interface between the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement and the AfCFTA? How would the AfCFTA be financed? Difficult decisions need to be made regarding institutional capacities and processes aimed at setting up various bodies in the regional economic communities.
Perhaps the speedy ratification of the AfCFTA — overtaking the Tripartite Free Trade Agreement — demonstrates impeccable efforts towards regional integration that have not been witnessed in a while in Africa. That said, regional integration in Africa has mainly focused on economic co-operation. The AfCFTA is also largely an economistic initiative, but it has great potential as a step towards the unification of African countries.
Work on how the United African States would look like is gaining momentum. It is envisaged that Caribbean countries would be part of it. This will happen in our lifetime.
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