UNDP-UNECA-UNCTAD side event at the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development 2022

Towards enhanced partnerships to support an inclusive AfCFTA

Fragmentation of African markets and barriers to trade have reduced the scope for businesses operating within the continent to trade with regional markets. In recognition of the opportunities an integrated market can bring to both consumers and producers on the continent, the AU member States established the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) under which trading commenced on the 1st January 2021.

The implementation of the AfCFTA presents a great opportunity for African countries to deepen regional integration, foster intra-African trade and achieve SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development -, especially its targets 10, 11 and 12, related to the promotion of a universal trading system, increased exports of developing countries, and removal of trade barriers.

The AfCFTA and SDGs nexus positions UN institutions as key partners to the negotiations and implementation. UNECA and UNCTAD among others have provided technical support to the AfCFTA negotiations while deploying efforts to support policy making towards an effective implementation. UNDP’s interventions are realized through direct support to inclusive trade integration through collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat and actions focusing on small-scale businesses (mainly women- and youth- led businesses), including those operating at the borderlands.

This event will discuss how synergies can be maintained across UN and non-UN Agencies as they scale up partnerships to support an inclusive AfCFTA that ensures economic opportunities and resources accessible to all, especially women.

Key outcomes of the discussions will contribute to inform the deliberations of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development and set the pathways for more collaborative interventions between UN Agencies under the UN Opportunities / Issue - 2 - Based Coalition (OIBC 2), which has identified the AfCFTA as a core thematic focus.

Objectives

• Discuss optimization of approaches of UN and non-UN institutions to the AfCFTA process and how to build more synergies towards achieving an inclusive AfCFTA that benefits women and youth
• Learn best practices from beneficiaries and identify ways to scale up interventions in a coordinated manner
• Identify common areas on institutional support to the realization of an inclusive AfCFTA that leaves no one behind.

Format and panelists

The side event will be fully virtual with interpretation available in both English and French. The panel will consist of keynote speakers and discussants from UN and non-UN institutions, the AfCFTA Secretariat, member states and the private sector.

Participants

The side event will be fully virtual with interpretation available in both English and French. The panel will consist of keynote speakers and discussants from UN and non-UN institutions, the AfCFTA Secretariat, member states and the private sector.

The meeting will gather representatives from UN and Non-UN agencies, Government representatives, the private sector, civil society and multilateral organizations involved in the AfCFTA.