ZLECAf: building capacity and sharing knowledge for inclusive and sustainable economic development

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This book is a wonderful immersion in the wonderful debate surrounding the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Since African independence in the 1960s, economic regionalism has been an integral part of the continent's strategies for inter-state rapprochement and economic development. However, due to the fragmentation of African international economic law, the incoherence of economic regionalization processes and the limited effectiveness of regional trade agreements (RTAs) concluded across the board, African economic regionalism is struggling to bring about economic development that meets people's expectations. This situation calls into question the relevance of such an option, and raises the question of alternative choices likely to bring about the emergence of a renewed economic regionalism in Africa, capable of producing sustainable, inclusive and mutually supportive economic development.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, this book questions the provisions of the FTAA, assesses its socio-economic impacts and suggests mechanisms for its orderly and efficient implementation. The fruit of a partnership between the Observatoire de la Francophonie économique (OFÉ), the Chaire en gouvernance et droit du commerce international (CGDCI) at the Université de Montréal, and the Université d'Abomey-Calavi in Benin, this book is in line with the OFÉ's mission to produce evidence to support public decision-makers and Francophone economic players.