UK launches £35M programme for AfCFTA implementation

UK International Trade Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has announced a new UK programme to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trading bloc.

Through the AfCFTA Support Programme, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will provide up to £35m to provide trade facilitation and trade policy support to the AfCFTA Secretariat and Member States through TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and other regional partners.

This was disclosed during AfCFTA’s Secretariat Secretary General, Wamkele Mene, London visit to discuss how the UK can continue its work as a strategic partner to the AfCFTA.

As the world’s largest free trade area, AfCFTA has the potential to boost Africa’s economic growth by driving industrialisation, generating jobs and delivering prosperity across the continent.

For UK businesses, the trade bloc will remove market access barriers by creating a single continental market, making it easier and more cost-effective for UK businesses to export goods and services across the 54 AfCFTA member states.