Egypt has brokered a long-awaited agreement among African nations on the rules of origin for textile, apparel, and automotive sectors under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ending a four-year gridlock over the continent's flagship economic integration project. The breakthrough came under Egypt's chairmanship of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers, which convened in Cairo in September and held a follow-up virtual session in October, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade announced Wednesday. The deal establishes transitional implementation mechanisms and a roadmap for finalising the remaining trade rules. The agreement clears a major hurdle to fully operationalising the AfCFTA, which aims to create the world's largest free trade zone by connecting 1.4 billion people across 55 countries with a combined GDP of about $3.4 trillion. Egypt also led efforts to adopt eight annexes to the Intellectual Property Protocol, which will be presented to the next African Union Summit for approval. "The AfCFTA is a cornerstone for Africa's economic integration and a driver of intra-African trade and joint investment," said Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan El-Khatib, who chaired the talks. He added that African countries remain committed to advancing the agreement's implementation "as a key step toward sustainable growth and industrialisation." The African ministers also approved a set of regulatory frameworks to support the accord's rollout, including those covering financial services, telecommunications, and digital trade. These include provisions for data protection and transfer, digital payments and identities, and emerging technologies. They also endorsed to establish the Continental Competition Court and the African Competition Network, aiming to strengthen market fairness across the continent. Officially launched on 1 January, 2021, AfCFTA will significantly boost intra-African trade by reducing tariffs and harmonising trade rules—though its implementation has been slowed by protracted negotiations and infrastructure challenges. Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English
