tralac’s 20th anniversary conference holds October 13-14 in Nairobi

The Trade Law Centre (tralac), Africa’s leading trade capacity-building think-tank assisting countries to improve trade governance and achieve inclusive trade policy processes, is set to hold its annual conference which also coincides with its 20th anniversary on the 13th and 14th of October, in Nairobi, Kenya.

The conference, which is themed ‘Africa’s trade and governance agenda in a changing global order’, comes against the backdrop of global crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war that has mounted economic pressure across major and developing economies of the world, with African economies struggling with rising fuel and food prices as well as inflation.

tralac understands that more time is needed for international and regional institutions to conceive adequate responses and implement modified solutions to help economies to bounce back. Therefore, the conference is poised to deliberate on features of the crises so as to understand their interconnectedness and broader implications for Africa as a continent.

Leading themes for discussions at the conference would be recent developments in intra-African trade, particularly the just launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Guided Trade Initiative, alongside the Regional Economic Communities Free Trade Areas (RECs-FTAs), including the role of RECs-FTAs as building blocks of continental integration. The 2-day convening will seek to understand what is happening in the RECs-FTAs in terms of dispute settlement by comparing RECs court practices against what is expected under the AfCFTA Protocol on Dispute Settlement.

The tralac conference will also include sessions on the AfCFTA as a framework for Africa’s industrialisation, the nexus between trade, climate change and food security, and between trade and gender.  Other themes for discussion at the tralac 20th anniversary annual conference would be the threat of the Russia-Ukraine crisis to international peace and security, including in Africa.

Thus, discussions at the conference will focus on finding solutions to the crisis, among other existential challenges such as climate change. Tralac’s new book on dispute settlement in the RECs and AfCFTA will also be launched at the conference.