Five Years of Trading: What Is Moving, What Is Blocked, and How to Report It

DateMonday 26 October 2026
Time09:00 GMT (10:00 UTC+1 | 11:00 UTC+2 | 12:00 UTC+3)
FormatZoom webinar with two live polls and a 40-minute conversation with the speakers
ForJournalists, editors and media practitioners reporting on trade, business and public policy
Registrationhttps://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p3Amz0GPTS2aGe3Mj4hlzg#/registration

Three reasons to register

1. Place any country on the map. Six stages run from signature to trade. After the session, a journalist can tell which stage a country has reached and which claim about it holds.

2. Check the numbers. Every figure is given with its date, and every gap with the institution that holds the next step.

3. Put questions to the people who hold the answers. Forty minutes are reserved for a conversation between participants and the speakers, built around a country, a corridor or a case.

The morning and its speakers

The programme follows one thread, from the treaty to the border to the count. Each step is carried by the speaker who holds the file.

Ms. Cynthia E. Gnassingbé-Essonam, Director of Private Sector Engagement and Communications, opens the morning.

Dr. Tsotetsi Makong, Director of Coordination and Programmes: the Agreement’s milestones across State Parties and what each stage unlocks for a business.

Mr. Mohamed Ali, Director of Trade in Goods: tariff schedules, preferences and the rules of origin still open.

Ms. Demitta Chinwude Gyang, Director of Customs Administration: customs readiness at the border, where a preference is applied or is not.

Mr. Emmanuel Mbarga, Regional Adviser for Central and North Africa and Principal Officer on Market Access: the six stages from signature to market, with the count and its date at each stage.

Mr. Samuel Agyeman, Principal Media Expert in the Communications Division, hosts the final conversation. 

Mr. Alexandre Siewe, Senior Advisor in Charge of Communications Division, closes the session.

Registration and contact

Registration is open at the link above. For media enquiries, write to the Communications Division, AfCFTA Secretariat: afcftacommunications@au-afcfta.org.

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