AfCFTA Updates

Media Advisory: AfCFTA Youth Symposium

THE INAUGURAL AfCFTA YOUTH SYMPOSIUM

INVITATION FOR MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES

What: The Inaugural AfCFTA Youth Symposium

Who: The conference is being convened by the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

When: The AfCFTA Youth Symposium will be held from 21 – 23 August 2023.

Where: The Symposium will take place in a hybrid format, where participants can attend in-person at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia and online via zoom and live streaming platforms.

Objective:

The overall objective of the AfCFTA Youth Symposium is to create a platform for youth across Africa to have direct interactions with the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, policymakers, academia, and financial institutions. The interactions will create a platform for the exchange of ideas on innovation, entrepreneurship, and achieving structural transformation that creates an enabling environment for inclusive trading under the AfCFTA regime.

Critical areas to the successful contribution of the youth in trade, will be reflected across panel discussions as per the following:

The AfCFTA as a Catalyst for Peace and Security in Africa
Empowering African Start-Up Ecosystems
Unlocking Opportunities: Empowering Young People in the AfCFTA Implementation
Youth Empowerment for AfCFTA Dispute Resolution: Developing Trade Lawyers through Clinical Legal Education
Enhancing Youth Engagement in AfCFTA Trade Policy Processes for Economic Development
Unleashing African Youth: Accelerating Industrialization through Youth-led Entrepreneurship and Exploring Untapped Opportunities
The Nexus between the Creative Industry and the AfCFTA in Africa
Empowering youth through digital financial inclusion and digital trade under the AfCFTA

The highlight of the Symposium will be an unmediated engagement between H.E Wamkele Mene and the young people of the Continent. Africa’s Youth will ask questions, share their experiences and comment on the implementation of the AfCFTA. This platform will offer African Youth the opportunity to gain clearer incites on how they can contribute to increasing intra Africa trade. It once again underscores His Excellency’s belief in the importance of the Youth in the implementation of the AfCFTA.

Participants:

The event will be hybrid in nature with participation of policymakers, academia, financial institutions, international organisations, industry experts and the media.

Journalists are invited to cover the Inaugural AfCFTA Youth Symposium at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia on 22 and 23 August 2023.

You are kindly entreated to arrive, 30 minutes before the start of the ceremony.

For further information, please contact:

Ms G. Khoza, Principal Communications Advisor | African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat | E-mail: [email protected] | Accra, Ghana

E-mail: [email protected]