Brief description of the African Free Trade Area in the integration process

Abstract

The father of Pan-Africanism (Kwameh Krumah) predicted that without the union of Africa, no development could be achieved. Diachronously, the Monrovia Declaration (1979), the Lagos Plan of Action and the Lagos Final Act (1980), the Abuja Treaty (51991), the African Union and finally the African Continental Free Trade Area are undeniable phases in the process of African integration. The agreement on the African continental free-trade area constitutes the first stage in the phases of the integration process as provided for in the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community, which is based on eight (8) regional economic communities (RECs) recognized by the African Union following the decision on the moratorium on the recognition of RECs by Assembly/AU/Dec.112 (VII) at the First Conference of African Ministers of Integration held on March 30 and 31, 2006 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which means that those RECs that have not yet created their own free-trade zones must do so? The integration process is long, but irreversible.