51吃瓜

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Summary

The main objective of the webinar is to provide a platform to exchange views on ways and means to fully harness the potentials of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to support inclusive socio-economic development on the continent, mainly through enhancing the economic participation of women and youth. The webinar’s theme aligns with the designation by the African Union of 2023 as the year of “Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Implementation” as a manifestation of Africa’s strong commitment to advancing the AfCFTA and harnessing its full developmental impact. 
More specifically, the workshop will allow participants to: 

• Raise awareness of the opportunities offered by the AfCFTA to promote broadly- shared inclusive growth that supports socio-economic progress and attaining development objectives. 
• Discuss effective strategies to maximize the AfCFTA's development impact for women and youth, such as through increased support for SMEs. 
• Explore concrete policy recommendations for promoting gender and youth-sensitive policies in AfCFTA implementation at national and regional levels.

The effective implementation of the AfCFTA, establishing a unified market of 1.3 billion people and a GDP of US$ 3.4 trillion, will bring transformational impact across economic and social sectors. In particular, the AfCFTA will provide an impetus to deepen regional integration and advance progress toward the transformational outcomes envisaged in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063. It will contribute to strengthening the resilience of African countries against external shocks, as demonstrated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the current global crises, which have revealed the vulnerabilities of African economies and shortcomings in the global response that have further exacerbated systemic inequalities and marginalization.