During its 25th Ordinary Session held on 15 June 2015 in Johannesburg South Africa, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) launched the negotiations for establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA).

The launch of the negotiations marked a major milestone in the implementation of the Summit decision to establish a continental free trade area by 2017. The main objectives of the CFTA are to facilitate free flow of goods and services as well as the free movement of business persons and investment on the Continent.

The aim is to expand intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation regimes and instruments across the African Regional Economic Communities. The CFTA is further expected to enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploitation of opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources. The CFTA will create a market of over a billion people with an aggregate GDP of close to US $4 trillion.