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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has initiated a strategic partnership with the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) Group and Bureau of Translation and Interpretation (BTI), aimed at strengthening intra-African trade and driving regional investment.
A central component of the partnership is a new initiative to translate labels on ‘Made in Africa’ products into the five official languages of the African Union: Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
The multilingual labelling project is designed to remove language barriers, expand market access and support businesses, exporters and importers trading under the AfCFTA framework.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, speaking about the initiative, underlined the partnership’s importance in aligning with national product certification standards.
He argued that buying products which have inscriptions written in a language that the buyer does not understand is a big challenge that must be addressed in an increasingly literate demography to boost trade.
“Some countries now require products to be labelled in their official languages as part of certification and quality assurance. This step is critical to ensuring compliance, facilitating seamless trade and building trust with consumers across Africa,” he said.
Driving Investment Through Regional Partnerships
As part of a broader push to accelerate economic integration, the APN Group – an international non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on development and private sector collaboration – renewed its memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the AfCFTA Secretariat. The MoU strengthens efforts to promote direct investment across the continent.
The AfCFTA Secretary-General also confirmed AfCFTA’s support for co-hosting the Africa Globalised Investment Summit, set to take place in Seychelles this November.
The annual summit rotates among member-states and brings together policymakers, investors and business leaders. This year’s event will be held under the theme ‘Invest in AfCFTA, invest in Ghana, invest in Africa’.
Education Services Set for Expansion
The meeting also focused on expanding trade in services under the AfCFTA. Stakeholders proposed including educational services as the sixth priority sector under the ‘Protocol on Trade in Services’ by 2026.
If adopted, the move could enable cross-border investments in Africa’s growing education sector and encourage mobility of academic institutions and professionals across the region.
APN Group CEO Louis Afful welcomed the deepening partnership, stating: “Our collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat has been further strengthened by confirmation that we will jointly host the Africa Globalised Investment Summit in Seychelles, 2026. This reflects the private sector’s growing role in shaping Africa’s economic future”.
He also praised the multilingual labelling project as a catalyst for private sector engagement, adding: “Translating product labels into African Union (AU) languages is not only a trade facilitation measure but also a signal for private sector investors to get involved in building a truly integrated African market”.
The meeting was attended by AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene, APN Group CEO Louis Afful and senior officials from both organisations.
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