AfCFTA Implementation: Learnings from Value Chains and Regional Blocs

Across Africa, the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) to deepen integration, strengthen value chains and expand intra-African trade is clear. The opportunity now is to turn commitments into practical, predictable and commercially viable trade outcomes.

AfCFTA Implementation: Learnings from Value Chains and Regional Blocs examines how regional experience can inform continental implementation. Drawing on a private-sector case study of mango purée trade, it shows that effective implementation depends on what happens at borders, along corridors and within domestic regulatory systems. It also highlights the critical role of private-sector engagement in identifying operational bottlenecks and ensuring that implementation translates into practical and predictable trade outcomes.

Five priorities emerge: integrated customs processes, mutual recognition of standards, clearer treatment of domestic taxes and fees, stronger reporting and resolution of non-tariff barriers, and attention to geography, infrastructure and security. Together, these can reduce trade costs, support regional sourcing and help translate AfCFTA commitments into growth, jobs and opportunity.