Could the new African free trade area revolutionise global trade?
Championed by the African Union, the new free trade area will make the continent a powerful economic bloc if challenges are overcome.
At the end of May 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect. The massive free trade area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries and could drastically change life on the continent as well as impact global trade.
In recent decades much of the global economy has been transformed by big, continent-wide trade blocs. Europe, North America, South America and much of the Asia-Pacific region have each formed their own trade bloc. But what makes them so popular?