Commonwealth
Energising Africa’s Digital Economy: Cross-Border Data Flows and the African Continental FTA
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the largest free trade agreement in the world by number of members and geographical area covered. It spans 54 African countries,2 with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$3.5 trillion and 1 billion consumers. Although initial trading under the agreement officially commenced in 2021, there are still ongoing negotiations on several outstanding protocols. One of these, known as the Digital Trade Protocol, has been pushed up the negotiating agenda as COVID-19-induced digitalisation offers African countries the opportunity to leapfrog traditional industrialisation and pursue a digital-led development strategy.
Assessing the Feasibility of Digitising the Kava Value Chain in the Pacific
The economic analysis undertaken in this report highlights that kava is a unique crop in the Pacific, both economically and socially. It has been used across the region for centuries as a core part of cultural ceremonies and events, and in recent years has become increasingly important from a development perspective. There are thriving domestic markets across the Pacific, providing an income to a high proportion of the populations, and export markets are growing.
Kava is now the largest merchandise export in Tonga and Vanuatu, and Fiji’s largest agricultural export.
