As per the request of Gabon’s Trade Minister, Yves Fernand Manfoumbi, during the last meeting in Accra, Ghana, the 11th meeting of the Council of Trade Ministers of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will take place in Libreville, Gabon, from 25 to 28 October 2022.
The meeting has received the official consent of Gabon’s President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, following its proposal by Minister Manfoumbi to the Council of Ministers on 13 October in Accra.
According to the Gabonese authorities, these meetings are being held ‘following the absence of a consensus on the validation of the protocols at the 10th meeting of the Council’ held on 7 and 8 October in the Ghanaian capital. In Libreville, the AfCFTA trade ministers will be tasked with, among other things, ‘concluding the protocols relating to phase II of the implementation of the Agreement establishing the Zone’, which is due to come into force on 1 January 2021.
According to the press release from the Gabonese authorities, the aim is to sign three protocols: on competition, investment and intellectual property rights. Initially, in Accra, Yves Fernand Manfoumbi had explained that his request for a rotation of this work was mainly aimed at ‘giving a more integrating and inclusive character for [the] populations’.
Credit:Gabonreview