Yaoundé, 24 March 2026 (ECA) – Thirty years after the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the verdict is clear: Africa’s share of global merchandise trade has declined from 5% in 1994 to 2.8% in 2025, while its contribution to global manufacturing value added remains below 2%. This stark reality was at the heart of discussions led by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) during a side event held on 24 March 2026, on the margins of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14).
The high-level dialogue brought together members of the African Group of WTO negotiators, AfCFTA chief negotiators from Central Africa, representatives of regional economic communities, international organizations, the United Nations system, as well as independent experts and civil society actors. A clear consensus emerged: trade liberalization alone does not deliver development.
While Africa is fully integrated into the multilateral trading system, respecting its rules and contributing to negotiations, this institutional participation has not translated into the expected structural transformation. As Asia strengthened its position and moved up global value chains, Africa has largely remained confined to exporting low-value, unprocessed commodities.
The cotton sector illustrates this reality starkly: in a global market of nearly 25 million tons, Africa remains marginal in textile processing, historically a key pathway to industrialization. This challenge is compounded by structural distortions, including $500 billion in annual agricultural subsidies in developed economies, which continue to undermine the competitiveness of African producers.
Time for a strategic shift
Against this backdrop, ECA’s dialogue delivered a strong message: Africa must move from a defensive posture to a proactive strategy of influence in global trade. The objective is no longer to simply adapt to existing rules, but to help shape them in line with the continent’s development priorities.
As emphasized by Jean Luc Mastaki Namegabe, Director of the ECA Subregional Office for Central Africa: “MC14 is both a mirror and an opportunity for Africa to structure a strategic offensive aimed at securing concrete gains in industrialization, productive capacity, and regional integration.”
At the core of this strategy lies a powerful yet underutilized tool: the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Far beyond a trade agreement, AfCFTA is a central instrument for building regional value chains, enhancing competitiveness, and repositioning Africa in the global economy. Its protocols on services, investment, digital trade, and intellectual property offer concrete spaces for influence—provided Africa fully mobilizes its negotiation and implementation capacities.
For international trade expert Sékou Doumbouya, “the key challenge is to translate AfCFTA’s potential into real gains in productivity and competitiveness.” The services sector presents a major opportunity: between 2010 and 2023, global services trade grew by 95%, compared to 56% for goods. In Sub-Saharan Africa, services now account for 58% of GDP.
“The issue is no longer to observe this shift, but to actively manage it,” he noted, highlighting four key drivers: digital technologies, pro-competition regulatory reforms, the integration of services as production inputs, and human capital development.
MC14 may not, on its own, mark a decisive turning point for Africa. That turning point must be driven by the continent itself—by activating its own instruments, building its value chains, and asserting its priorities in global trade negotiations.
As summarized by Adama Ekberg Coulibaly, Chief of the Subregional Initiatives Section at ECA: “Development outcomes will not be achieved without stronger alignment between trade, industrial policies, productive capacities, and accelerated regional integration.”
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Zacharie Roger MBARGA - Communications Officer
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