On 4 September 2026, at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, the Federal Republic of Somalia deposited its instrument of ratification of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. This note records the act, states what it confers, and sets out what follows.
The act
The instrument was submitted by the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Amb. Gamal Mohamed Hassan, to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who is the depositary under the Agreement. It had been signed at Mogadishu on 29 August 2026 by H.E. Abdisalam Abdi Ali, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and it records that Somalia has completed the constitutional and legal procedures required for ratification. The Agreement was approved by Parliament and assented to by H.E. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
With the deposit, the international stage of ratification is complete, the national stage having been concluded earlier. The distinction is not procedural detail. National ratification expresses a country’s consent; the deposit with the depositary is the act that gives that consent effect under the Agreement and confers the status of State Party. Somalia becomes the fiftieth State Party to the Agreement.
What has been ratified is the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. The AfCFTA Secretariat is the institution that supports implementation of that Agreement; it is not itself an instrument and is not the depositary.
Somalia signed the Agreement at Kigali, Republic of Rwanda, on 21 March 2018, the day it was adopted. The instrument deposited on 4 September 2026 completes what was begun on that date.
What the status confers
Somalia now holds the rights and carries the obligations of a State Party. It takes its place in the organs that govern implementation and in the negotiations still under way. Its enterprises acquire the right to trade with the other State Parties under the preferences the Agreement establishes, subject to the rules of origin and to the certificate that accompanies a qualifying consignment. The country gains access to the instruments built to make those preferences usable, and to the support mechanisms available to State Parties adjusting to a continental market.
What the deposit does not do on its own
It does not, by itself, place a preferential tariff in the hands of a Somali exporter at a border. Between the legal status and a first consignment traded under the Agreement stand operations that are practical rather than diplomatic.
Two of them sit at national level. The AfCFTA electronic tariff book is transposed into the national system, and the customs administration configures the applicable preferential tariffs, so that a preference claimed at a border is a preference actually granted. Two others sit within the East African Community, of which Somalia has been a Partner State since March 2024: the remaining tariff concessions beyond the ninety per cent category already submitted by the Community, and the commitments on trade in services. That work is conducted among the Partner States of the Community.
For reporting. A headline stating that Somali goods now enter forty-nine markets duty free would be wrong on the day it is written and correct at a date nobody can yet name. The accurate formulation is that Somalia is a State Party as of 4 September 2026 and that the operational steps which turn that status into a first preferential consignment are under way.
What the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said
The Ministry stated that the ratification completes Somalia’s domestic legal requirements and allows the country to participate in a continental market representing more than 1.4 billion consumers.
Somalia’s participation in the AfCFTA will create greater opportunities for local enterprises to access continental markets, attract foreign investment, diversify exports and participate effectively in regional value chains, supporting the country’s broader economic development.
Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Federal Republic of Somalia, 4 September 2026
What the Secretariat has undertaken
During the official visit to Somalia of 16 to 18 August 2026, the Secretariat undertook to accompany the country to its first consignment traded under the Agreement and to demonstrate that operation from end to end, so that Somali enterprises have a worked example rather than a principle. That undertaking stands, and the deposit is the point from which it can be executed.
Key dates
| DATE | EVENT |
| 21 March 2018 | The Agreement establishing the AfCFTA is adopted at Kigali, Republic of Rwanda, and signed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Somalia the same day |
| 30 May 2019 | The Agreement establishing the AfCFTA enters into force |
| 1 January 2021 | Trading under the Agreement begins |
| November 2023 | Somalia’s national AfCFTA implementation strategy validated in Mogadishu |
| March 2024 | Somalia becomes a Partner State of the East African Community |
| 16 to 18 August 2026 | Official visit of the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat to Somalia |
| 29 August 2026 | The instrument of ratification is signed at Mogadishu by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation |
| 4 September 2026 | Somalia deposits its instrument of ratification at the headquarters of the African Union, Addis Ababa |
| 5 to 11 November 2027 | Intra-African Trade Fair, Lagos, Nigeria |
Material available to the press
The backgrounder on Somalia and the AfCFTA, second edition, published on this Hub and superseding the edition of 20 August 2026. The question and answer page for desks. The press release of the AfCFTA Secretariat of 19 August 2026 on the official visit. The opening statement of the Secretary-General at the press point of 17 August 2026, in full. The twelve-slide reference document on Somalia’s position under the Agreement, in its corrected edition.
The Communications Division does not hold photographs or broadcast-quality footage of the deposit ceremony. Outlets holding usable material are invited to write to the address below.
Verification
Communications Division, AfCFTA Secretariat, Accra. Alexandre.Siewe@au-afcfta.org, +233 302 986 252. Any query on a figure or a formulation on this page is answered within one working day.
