COMESA private upskills with rules of origin to compete under AfCFTA
Closure ceremony of the Advanced rules of origin training for CBC members, 27 March 2025, Antananarivo, Madagascar
CEO Soobramanien during the advanced RoO training opening session, 24 March 2025
« The joint collaboration with the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme and the EU-TAF is designed to create a multiplier effect, ensuring the sustainability and expansion of the regional knowledge pool. »
Summary
The EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme, through its partnership with Astove Conseil, and in collaboration with the European Technical Assistance Facility (EU-TAF) Support to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the COMESA Business Council (CBC), organised their third event aimed at strengthening CBC’s French-speaking members’ AfCFTA rules of origin competencies.
This event, titled “Advanced Training Workshop on AfCFTA Rules of Origin for the French-speaking private sector of Eastern and Southern Africa”, was held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, from 24 to 27 March 2025.
Representatives from eight French-speaking member states of the COMESA—Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tunisia, and Seychelles—participated in the activity. This workshop was part of a comprehensive capacity-building initiative that started in June 2024, during a sensitisation workshop held in Tunis, Tunisia, and an initial training session on AfCFTA rules of origin for the private sector held in December 2024, in Beauvallon, Seychelles.
The workshop allowed participants to enhance their technical knowledge of origin acquisition, certification, verification, and other key AfCFTA requirements. Through interactive sessions, they practiced their learning through practical exercises in real-world scenarios.
