{"id":13235,"date":"2026-07-16T08:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/?post_type=kreisky_event&#038;p=13235"},"modified":"2026-07-16T08:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:06:00","slug":"free-trade-as-a-driver-of-africas-economic-integration","status":"publish","type":"kreisky_event","link":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/veranstaltung\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration","title":{"rendered":"Free trade as a driver of Africa\u2019s economic integration?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In cooperation with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oefse.at\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00d6FSE<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vidc.org\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.vidc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">VIDC<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is Africa\u2019s most ambitious economic integration project. The political ambitions are high: the AfCFTA aims to boost intra-African trade, facilitate regional value chains, promote industrialisation, and strengthen the continent\u2019s position in the global economy. Considerable progress has been made since the Agreement came into force five years ago, particularly in establishing its political, legal and institutional framework. However, translating the AfCFTA\u2019s political vision into tangible economic outcomes remains a complex undertaking. Successful implementation goes beyond tariff reductions and requires improvements in trade facilitation, customs procedures, transport and logistics, access to finance, regulatory cooperation, common standards and productive capacities. This event will discuss the current state of the AfCFTA, the challenges of its implementation, and what is needed to boost investment, industrialisation and employment in Africa, whilst ensuring that the benefits of integration are shared across countries, regions, businesses and different sections of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keynote Speech:<br><br>H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat and former South African representative to the World Trade Organisation: \u201cThe AfCFTA as a driver of trade, production and employment: strategic considerations\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Discussants:<br><br>Ambassador Valerie Rugene, Deputy Permanent Representative\/Deputy Head of Mission of Kenya to Austria and to the UN organisations based in Vienna (tbc)<br><br>Prof. Dr Robert Kappel, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Leipzig, is affiliated with the International SEPT (Small Enterprise Promotion and Training) Competence Centre and the Institute for African Studies. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), which he led as President from 2004 to 2011.<br><br>Dr Leena Koni Hoffmann, an anti-corruption researcher and Associate Fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House. She is also the co-founder of Luxembourg for Transparency (L4T), a member of the International Council of Transparency International, and a former investigator at Nigeria\u2019s anti-corruption agency.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In cooperation with \u00d6FSE and VIDC The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is Africa's most ambitious economic integration project. The political ambitions are high: the AfCFTA aims to boost intra-African trade, enable regional value chains, promote industrialization, and enhance the continent's position in the global economy. Considerable progress has been made since the Agreement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13242,"template":"","format":[29],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"schwerpunkt":[43],"class_list":["post-13235","kreisky_event","type-kreisky_event","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schwerpunkt-internationale-politik-europa-und-sicherheit","format-podiumsdiskussion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Free trade as a driver for Africa\u00b4s economic integration? - Kreisky Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/free-trade-as-a-driver-of-africas-economic-integration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free trade as a driver for Africa\u00b4s economic integration? - Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In cooperation with \u00d6FSE and VIDC The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is Africa&#039;s most ambitious economic integration project. The political ambitions are high: the AfCFTA aims to boost intra-African trade, enable regional value chains, promote industrialization, and enhance the continent&#039;s position in the global economy. Considerable progress has been made since the Agreement [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/free-trade-as-a-driver-of-africas-economic-integration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kreisky Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-16T08:06:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/collage-1784111965837.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration\",\"name\":\"Free trade as a driver for Africa\u00b4s economic integration? - Kreisky Forum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/collage-1784111965837.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-16T08:02:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-16T08:06:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/collage-1784111965837.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/collage-1784111965837.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\\\/free-trade-as-a-driver-for-africas-economic-integration#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Veranstaltungen\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/veranstaltung\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Free trade as a driver for Africa\u00b4s economic integration?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum\",\"description\":\"Bruno Kreisky Forum f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"alternateName\":\"BRUNO KREISKY FORUM f\u00fcr internationalen Dialog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kreisky-forum.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Free trade as a driver of Africa\u2019s economic integration? \u2013 Kreisky Forum","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kreisky-forum.org\/en\/event\/free-trade-as-a-driver-of-africas-economic-integration","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Free trade as a driver for Africa\u00b4s economic integration? - Kreisky Forum","og_description":"In cooperation with \u00d6FSE and VIDC The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is Africa's most ambitious economic integration project. 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