After the official launch of the AfCFTA Secretariat, which opened in Accra on 17 August 2020, followed by the beginning of trade under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) - originally planned for 1 July 2020 and subsequently delayed to 1th January 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic - an article published on Africa Renewal takes stock of the status of the AfCFTA implementation at the beginning of its second year of operationalisation.