The second edition of the Forum shifts the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade from negotiation to measurable implementation.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, together with the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, closed the second AfCFTA Digital Trade Forum in Lagos on 2 July 2026, held under the theme “Digital Trade for a Connected African Market.” Convening policymakers, regulators, entrepreneurs, investors and development partners from across the continent, the Forum adopted Eight Calls to Action setting time-bound commitments to operationalise the AfCFTA digital market.
The Forum marked a deliberate shift from negotiation to implementation. With the AfCFTA’s legal architecture for digital trade now substantially in place — the Protocol on Digital Trade adopted by the Assembly of the African Union — the Secretariat and State Parties turned their attention to putting the framework to use across payments, data flows and cross-border trade.
Africa’s digital economy, estimated at approximately US$180 billion today and projected to approach US$712 billion by 2050, gives the Protocol its urgency. As speakers underlined, its value will be measured not by adoption, but by implementation and by its impact on African businesses and citizens.
The Forum’s central outcome was its Eight Calls to Action — a shared roadmap addressed to State Parties, the Secretariat and the private sector:
1. Accelerate ratification and domestication of the Protocol on Digital Trade.
2. Build Africa’s digital public infrastructure — digital identity, connectivity, payments and digital public services.
3. Modernise cross-border trade systems through paperless trade, electronic processes and harmonised procedures.
4. Build trust and confidence in the digital marketplace through cybersecurity, consumer protection and responsible data governance.
5. Expand digital inclusion, skills and innovation, with women, youth, MSMEs and rural communities at the centre.
6. Mobilise investment to turn African innovation into solutions that scale across the continent.
7. Advance public-private partnerships as the delivery model for Africa’s digital transformation.
8. Advance secure, interoperable cross-border payments so that money moves as freely as goods and services.
Implementation is already under way. The Secretariat pointed to the AfCFTA Digital Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Programme (ADIEP), which — in partnership with Google — is equipping 7,500 African SMEs across 19 countries with digital trade skills through three modules: cross-border digital trade, cloud for small business, and AI for productivity. Cross-border systems such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) are already reducing the cost and friction of intra-African payments.
Among the Forum’s concrete outcomes, the Secretariat and Quest Ghana Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a Digital Trade Corridor to facilitate, track and settle cross-border trade transactions in line with AfCFTA rules and regulations.
In his remarks, H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, framed digital trade as a present reality rather than a distant ambition, underscoring its potential to bring often-overlooked communities — African women, youth and rural populations — into the formal economy, and identifying harmonised rules, connectivity, trusted cross-border data flows and skills as the foundations of a continental digital economy. “We are ready to take responsibility for our own destiny as Africans — to advance Africa’s digital economy — with the support of our partners across the world,” he said.
Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria and Chair of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade, reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment — as co-champion of the Protocol on Digital Trade — to advancing its implementation.
For the Protocol to deliver, the Secretariat stressed, African governments must integrate digital trade into their broader national development and trade strategies — turning continental commitment into national action.
