COVID-19 has brought significant disruption to international trade and supply chains, with various countries massively relying on ad-hoc, unilateral measures in response to the pandemic crisis. Irrespective from the restrictive or facilitating nature of these measures, they have all been characterized by lack of coordination with each other. In this regard, multilateral trade rules and most of existing regional trade agreements (RTAs) offer an opportunity for increased coordination of such measures, as they contain provisions establishing mechanisms aimed at encouraging greater coordination of trade policies, public dialogue and concerted approach to decision making processes. This is also the case of the AfCFTA.

Read more...

One of the main challenges that African economic operators face when engaging with potential business partners in the continent is the need to verify the identity of their counterparts and assess their level of reliability before entering into business negotiations or in a partnership. Some African countries offer today specific tools for conducting background checks aimed at assessing the reliability of potential trading partners in other States, to minimize cases of frauds in international transactions.

Read more...