Since Monday, March 31, to April 1, 2025, a conference on the Implementation Review Mechanism of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been taking place at Mount Zion Hotel. The event focuses on the implementation audit and the assessment of the readiness of partner states of the East African Community (EAC), namely Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The meeting brought together several notable figures, including three representatives from the AfCFTA Secretariat: Ms. Halima Noor (Tanzania), Mr. Baowendnéré Christian Tionom (Burkina Faso), and Ms. Nomalanga Gule (Tanzania). Also in attendance was Mr. Onésime Niyukuri, an official from the Ministry of Commerce, Transport, Industry, and Tourism of Burundi, along with other representatives from national institutions.
In his opening speech, Mr. Onésime Niyukuri invited participants to closely follow the presentations by experts from the AfCFTA Secretariat on the status of the agreement’s implementation.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Christian Tionom emphasized that the AfCFTA is a continental project aimed at boosting intra-African trade, fostering industrialization, and transforming Africa from a raw material-exporting region into a key player in the production and export of value-added goods. He highlighted that audits and evaluations help measure compliance with commitments, assess progress made, and identify remaining challenges. He also pointed out that the ministerial directive on the review mechanism, adopted during the 14th Council of Ministers held in Zanzibar on June 25, 2024, provides for the development of tools such as compliance matrices to guide these evaluations.
Ms. Halima Noor then elaborated in English on the objectives of assessing the readiness of member states. She explained that the assessment aims to evaluate each country’s compliance with AfCFTA commitments, identify obstacles to the agreement’s implementation, and gather stakeholder feedback on the compliance matrices. Her explanations were later translated into French by Mr. Christian TIONOM.
The evaluations will include in-depth consultations with the National Implementation Committee and other relevant stakeholders. A consultant will be recruited to work with the AfCFTA and EAC Secretariats to carry out this mission and coordinate with the partner states’ agencies.
At the end of the discussions, representatives of national institutions requested at least one week to thoroughly review the AfCFTA implementation measures and propose any necessary recommendations for improvement.
