Representatives from the African Union’s (AU) member states held the second session of the Continental Free Trade Area Negotiating Forum (CFTA-NF), continuing their work aimed at laying the foundation for the upcoming substantive negotiations. The meeting, which concluded on 20 May in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, addressed various issues related to the preparatory work and guiding documents for the CFTA negotiations. These include the rules of procedure for the CFTA negotiating institutions, the guiding principles and the modalities for the CFTA negotiations, the work plan for the CFTA-NF, as well as the terms of reference for the technical working groups. According to a source close to the negotiations, the meeting approved two of those documents, namely the rules of procedure for the CFTA negotiating institutions and the guiding principles for the CFTA negotiations. Earlier in May, a group of CFTA experts – led by the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA) in close collaboration with the AU – also met in Nairobi, Kenya, in order to work on the drafting of the CFTA framework agreement, an interim pact that would establish the principles, scope and details of what has been agreed in the context of the CFTA negotiations. Despite substantial...