Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), is participating in the 8th Meeting of the Committee on Digital Trade of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), taking place from October 28 to November 1, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
MCIT participation in the meeting comes at the invitation of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), in light of Egypt’s steadfast commitment to implementing the AfCFTA Agreement.
The meeting delves into finalizing discussions on the controversial articles within the eight annexes of the Protocol. Moreover, member states have realized the necessity of drafting and clarifying specific details related to significant articles in the Protocol that have been points of contention among them.
It is noteworthy that the Member State Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) approved the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade during the 37th AU Summit held last February. Furthermore, it was agreed that the Protocol’s entry into force is contingent upon the approval of eight supplementary annexes covering several areas. These include rules of origin for digital products, digital identities, cross-border digital payments, cross-border data transfers, criteria for determining the legitimate public reasons for disclosure of source code of software and algorithms, cybersecurity, emerging and advanced technologies, and FinTech.
Among the most controversial annexes are those addressing cross-border data transfers and criteria for determining the legitimate public reasons for disclosure of source code, featuring various security and technical challenges. In this regard, Egypt has prepared a consolidated national position reflecting its priorities and legislations.
Furthermore, Egypt attaches great importance to implementing the AfCFTA Agreement and its protocols. As a pioneering African nation, the country was one of the earliest to adopt and advocate for the proposal to establish the Agreement during its AU presidency in 2019. It has also been one of the first AU member states to sign the Agreement, driven by its strong belief in the vital role of the AfCFTA in achieving the desired integration among African countries.
AfCFTA features prominently among the AU Agenda 2063 milestones. The Agreement aims to eliminate barriers to intra-African trade progressively by resolving the problem of overlapping membership of regional economic communities, thereby promoting trade liberalization and enabling structural transformation.
