African Union’s Agenda 2063

There is no gainsaying the fact that Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) constitute a major impediment to Africa’s sustainable development. In fact, IFFs have a direct impact on a country’s ability to raise, retain and mobilise its own resources to finance sustainable development. Its negative impact further includes draining a country’s foreign exchange reserves, reducing domestic resource mobilization, preventing the flow of benefits of foreign direct investment, and worsening insecurity, poverty and economic inequality.

This project seeks to contribute to addressing the complex and interconnected challenges of energy security, food insecurity and climate change. Funded by the University of Aberdeen’s Internal Pump-Prime Fund, the objective of this project is to launch the Global South Research Law Network with a vision to design an energy, food and climate governance transformation strategy that is tailored to the needs and realities of countries in Africa.

In the specific context of the AfCFTA, (international economic) law is supposed to focus on producing rules designed to promote trade liberalisation by eliminating any constraints that are likely to prevent the flow of capital across the continent and to restrict the growth of business activities well as their expansion across national borders.