The AfCFTA Secretariat and TradeMark Africa (TMA) have announced a strategic cooperation formalized through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) — a significant milestone in advancing AfCFTA’s plans and commitments to promote intra-African trade and e-commerce. The MoU was signed at the AfCFTA Secretariat headquarters in Accra, Ghana, and was led by H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, and Dave Beer, Chief Executive Officer of TMA.
This partnership is grounded in the shared commitment of the AfCFTA Secretariat and TMA to accelerate Africa’s economic integration and trade expansion, ensuring that trade facilitation efforts translate into tangible economic impacts across the continent. By tackling trade barriers, improving border efficiency, and enhancing digital trade infrastructure, this collaboration will support businesses — especially MSMEs — in accessing new markets and strengthening regional value chains.
The AfCFTA, which aims to create a single market of 1.3 billion people with a combined annual GDP of $3.4 trillion, is designed to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers to intra-African trade, thereby improving market access and increasing productivity — key drivers of Africa’s development. On the other hand, TMA is committed to fostering sustainable and inclusive intra-African trade and increasing exports to the rest of the world by improving trade facilitation, contributing to Africa’s commercial growth and prosperity.
The Secretariat and TMA will collaborate to implement this MoU across ten key focus areas, including:
- Customs and trade transit zones
- Trade facilitation and transport corridors
- Standards development
- Removal of non-tariff and technical barriers
- Digital transformation of customs and border processes
- E-commerce
- Women and youth in trade
- Engagement with African private sector value chains
- Export growth, investment, and diversification
- Capacity building and joint training programs on cross-border market access strategies and compliance with AfCFTA rules.
To guide implementation in these areas, the AfCFTA Secretariat and TMA will establish technical working groups.
Launched to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the AfCFTA, the partnership also reflects TradeMark Africa’s strong commitment to supporting the agreement’s implementation by leveraging over 15 years of experience, as highlighted by H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, in trade facilitation and engagement with continental and global institutions.
During a public address following the signing of the MoU, H.E. Desalegn emphasized ongoing joint efforts to increase private sector participation and strengthen regional value chains, including collaboration on trade facilitation initiatives under the AfCFTA and programming efforts in areas such as the fish value chain.
Speaking on the significance of the partnership, H.E. Wamkele Mene highlighted its practical importance:
“This partnership reinforces our shared commitment to removing trade barriers by accelerating digital transformation and ensuring that businesses — particularly SMEs and women — can fully benefit from the AfCFTA.”
