UNECA Pushes Faster AfCFTA Implementation Ahead of Lomé Regional Meeting
By Dr. Hana Saada
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) will convene a regional meeting in Lomé, Togo, on May 21-22 to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) across North and West Africa.
Organised through UNECA’s African Trade Policy Centre and its subregional offices, the meeting will assess progress in implementing the AfCFTA, review best practices, identify persistent obstacles and outline measures aimed at accelerating the agreement’s operationalisation.
UNECA said discussions will focus on tariff liberalisation, customs cooperation, national implementation strategies, private-sector participation and institutional coordination mechanisms.
The meeting comes amid disruptions affecting global trade flows linked to the Middle East war, with participants also expected to examine measures aimed at limiting the impact of external shocks on African economies and strengthening intra-African trade as a resilience mechanism.
For Algeria, the meeting aligns with broader efforts to expand the country’s economic footprint across Africa through trade, logistics and infrastructure integration. Authorities have increasingly positioned African market access as a central pillar of Algeria’s external economic strategy, particularly following the launch of AfCFTA trade exchanges with an initial group of partner countries in November 2024.
The initiative also coincides with Algeria’s push to strengthen transport and commercial connectivity across the continent, notably through the trans-Saharan highway linking Algiers to Lagos, viewed as a strategic corridor supporting regional trade integration between North Africa, the Sahel and West Africa.
Against a backdrop of supply-chain disruptions, energy-market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, African institutions are seeking to give the AfCFTA greater operational substance as intra-African trade gains importance in continental economic resilience strategies.
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