A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Prioritizing Strategies to Leverage the Potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Initiative
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31181/jidmgc11202526Keywords:
African Continental Free Trade Area, Fuzzy SIWEC, StrategyAbstract
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade zone implemented among most African countries in 2018, with the objective of eradicating tariffs on most services and goods over a certain period based on the nature of the goods and the degree of development of each country. Although there are many benefits from its implementation, various challenges have impeded its full adoption across several African countries. To overcome these challenges, twenty-four strategies under six main categories were identified through a literature review. To determine the most appropriate strategies for leveraging the potential of the AfCFTA initiative, our study adopted a fuzzy simple weight calculation (F-SIWEC) method to calculate their weights. Four experts participated in data collection. The findings indicate that infrastructural development emerged as the most important strategy, followed by financial support and resources, and AfCFTA leadership and governance.
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