https://arab.news/yafqk
The African Continental Free Trade Area is Africa’s most ambitious project for continental integration — a blueprint to liberalize trade, stimulate industrialization and accelerate shared growth. The free trade bloc carries the promise of transforming Africa into the world’s largest single market, connecting 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined economic output of $3.4 trillion.
Beyond Africa’s borders, the bloc also opens a new frontier for interregional cooperation, particularly between the Gulf Cooperation Council and North African economies such as Egypt and Morocco. Given the recent strengthening of ties between the Gulf and North African economies, it could become the missing link to drive vertical integration, merging Gulf capital, North African industrial expertise and African resources into a powerful economic alliance.
The African Continental Free Trade Area was conceived in response to the continent’s historical fragmentation. Despite early efforts by the Organization of African Unity and, later, the African Union, attempts to establish a continent-wide free trade area repeatedly failed. Multiple overlapping regional trade blocs were fragmented and ineffective. But throughout the 2010s, the “Africa Rising” narrative blossomed, the African Union’s leadership prioritized economic integration and the pan-African vision began to gain real traction.
