Rwanda and the African Continental Free Trade Area

What the AfCFTA does

The AfCFTA joins the markets of the African Union member states that ratify it. Member countries cut import duties on most goods traded between them in stages, open up trade in services and agree common rules on investment, competition and digital trade.

For a company in Rwanda, it adds markets beyond the East African Community, in West, North and Southern Africa.

Rwanda’s role

• Host of the signing: the agreement was adopted at an African Union summit in Kigali in March 2018.
• Early ratification: Rwanda was among the first countries to ratify, before the agreement entered into force in May 2019.
• First traders: Rwanda was one of the eight countries in the first round of the Guided Trade Initiative in October 2022.
• First certificate: the first AfCFTA certificate of origin issued in Rwanda went to Igire Coffee, for a shipment of coffee to Ghana.

How an exporter qualifies

• The goods must be traded between two countries that both apply the AfCFTA tariff schedules.
• The goods must meet the AfCFTA rules of origin: made wholly in a member country, or worked on enough there.
• Each shipment needs an AfCFTA certificate of origin, presented to customs in the importing country.
• Check the tariff line for your product: some lines are cut over several years, and a small share stays excluded.

Trade inside the East African Community keeps its own, deeper EAC rules. The AfCFTA matters most for markets outside the EAC.