81286570-Short-Term Expert Pool to support negotiations and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

The GIZ African Continental Free Trade Area programme aims to improve the framework conditions for the AfCFTA. To achieve that, the programme follows a multilevel approach on the continental, regional and national level. The programme supports the African Union, specifically the Department for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry, Minerals (ETTIM) and the AfCFTA Secretariat at the continental level in the ongoing negotiations on the AfCFTA and in the implementation of the agreement. On the regional level the programme cooperates with Regional Economic Communities (RECs), specifically EAC (East African Community), ECOWAS (Economic Community for West African States) and SADC (South African Development Community). The programme also supports Member States (mainly DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, Malawi, Rwanda, Tunisia) by working with national institutions, like trade ministries and customs, to implement the agreement. The main areas of intervention of the programme are institutional support, trade in services, trade in goods and investments, as well as mainstreaming sustainability issues and stakeholder engagement. Since beginning of 2022 the AfCFTA programme is co-funded by the "Technical Assistance Facility to support the AfCFTA and Continental Economic Integration" (TAF) under the Team Europe Initiative. The TAF seeks to contribute to the African economic Integration agenda through mainly the realisation of the AfCFTA. It has two specific objectives: i) enhancing the capacity for preparing and conducting the remaining negotiations and ii) strengthening the institutional capacity of targeted African institutions and countries to successfully implement the AfCFTA and manage the next steps towards a single market. The following main areas of support are envisaged: I. The capacity of the AfCFTA Secretariat is enhanced, for preparing and conducting the remaining AfCFTA negotiations (all phases), as well as for steering the implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement. II. The capacity of AUC to advance Continental Economic and Industrial policies complementary to the AfCFTA is strengthened. III. The capacities of targeted RECs and AU specialized agencies to implement AfCFTA-related priority reforms and to facilitate cross-REC exchanges are strengthened. IV. The capacities of countries to implement AfCFTA commitments are strengthened and trade regulatory practices are improved. V. Continental and regional private sector organisations engagement in AfCFTA is enhanced. The TAF operates on the basis of a multi-donor contribution agreement. A Project Management Unit (PMU) oversees the implementation of the TAF and the execution of activities. Each implementing partner agency (Expertise France, GIZ and FIIAPP) is represented in the latter and contributes with a trade policies program manager. GIZ has assumed a coordinating role. An Operational Steering Committee (OSC) chaired by the AfCFTA Secretariat and the EU with the participation of the financing partners (Agence Française de Development, the German Ministry of Development Cooperation (BMZ), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) approves requests for the fully on-demand part and provides methodological and thematic guidance to the PMU. A Strategic Steering Committee (SSC) co-chaired by the AfCFTA Secretariat and the EU and with the participation of funding and implementation partners will be established to guide and validate the overall direction of the Action and ensure adequate coordination between all organisations involved.