DECISION ON THE REPORT OF THE HIGH LEVEL AFRICAN TRADE COMMITTEE
ON TRADE ISSUES
Doc. Assembly/AU/10(XXII)
The Assembly,
RECALLS the Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.394 ( XVIII) on boosting IntraAfrican Trade/Continental Free Trade Area taken on 30 January 2012 at its Eighteenth Session;
TAKES NOTE of the Report of the High Level African Trade Committee held on 29 January 2014 and endorses its recommendations;
REITERATES that boosting intra-African trade, industrial development and economic integration are the most viable means for African countries to achieve structural transformation, sustainable development that yields jobs for all citizens, particularly women and youth, hence the need to prioritise the implementation of the Boosting Intra-Africa Trade and the Continental Free Trade Area (BIAT/CFTA) decisions at the national, regional and continental levels;
URGES Member States and Regional Economic Communities to consider carefully the impact of the negotiations of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements on the African integration agenda, as potential trade deals pursued individually by countries and RECs, if not harmonised properly, will fatally compromise the African trade integration process and undermine the vision and scope of the Abuja Treaty;
ALSO URGES Member States to ensure that the negotiations of multilateral and bilateral agreements do not further constrain the policy space and flexibilities that they need for effective intra African trade, industrialization, regional integration, value addition and employment creation;
MANDATES the Ministers of Trade to hold an extraordinary session to consider and adopt a work plan, negotiating modalities and principles towards the effective launch of the CFTA negotiations in 2015 as well as to consider reports on Africa’s response and implications of the Bali Agreement and Africa’s assessment studies on AGOA, to be presented through the High Level Committee on Trade, to the next Summit meeting in June 2014;
CALLS FOR the inclusion of Economic Partnership Agreements on the Agenda of the Joint Africa-EU Summit in April 2014 to provide for High-Level Dialogue to break the current impasse on EPAs. In addition, DIRECTS the PRC to meet and discuss EPAs before the EU-Africa Summit and submit the related report to Ministers.
CALLS UPON Member States to speak with a single voice in order to be heard in the global arena on common AU trade positions. In this regard, Member States should allocate the necessary financial resources to the AUC for the implementation of the above decisions.