week 8

flashcards / synonyms

to shrink by 

accompanied by 

encounter X xenophobic attitudes

with respect to 

aware of

access to

with regard to 

engage in 

integrated into

similar to

National leaders must guide their ministries and step in as needed to resolve stubborn issues. 

Technical experts and policymakers must stay focused on analyzing excluded and sensitive products’ implications for intraregional trade and value chains, so that governments and industries can adapt accordingly.

The COMESA and EAC regions already have functional competition-policy regimes and institutions, which can serve as models for the CFTA.

The phase-two negotiations can be expedited by drawing on global, regional, and national models that have already proved effective. 

The annex discussions can be streamlined with a more efficient procedural framework. 

Another immediate priority is to persuade 22 countries to ratify the CFTA agreement so that it can enter into force before the end of 2018.

It is hard to say when the next 19 ratifications might arrive.

Now, similar roles might be assigned at the micro level to facilitate the process of formalizing individual annexes.

To expedite the process, the AU Commission should dispatch emissaries to aid national leaders in securing ratification from their governments or legislatures. 

The lessons from the first phase should come in handy for the second, assuming they are heeded.

Those talks need to be finalized, and their protocols submitted for adoption, by the time of the January 2020 AU Summit. 

Delegates could then refer areas where there is no immediate consensus to the ministerial level, thereby ensuring that all annexes are at least subjected to technical review. 

Contentious and unresolved issues could then be revisited later, perhaps with instructions from the relevant governments. 

If new proposals did not readily invite a consensus, discussions would revert back to the existing text. 

But time is pressing, and policymakers will need to maintain the momentum if they are to meet looming deadlines. 

If all of this happens, Africa will take a giant step toward achieving continental economic integration.

Though structural issues will remain high on the development agenda, the immediate priority is to finish the basic unfinished work needed to get the CFTA up and running. Securing ratification from each member state will require gentle pressure on governments, so that the agreement can enter into force sooner rather than later.