African Trade Policy Center

Who we are 

The African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), was established in 2003 as a specialized unit within the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Its mission is to be the leading Africa-based centre of excellence and continental hub for the development of trade policies that address Africa’s aspirations for economic transformation, in particular the negotiation and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement and the Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) initiative.

ATPC engages with key trade policy stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society, and academia in research, training, information dissemination and advisory services to build consensus and achieve inclusive outcomes.

The Centre provides knowledge services and technical assistance based on needs identified by its member States and partners. ATPC’s expertise includes regional integration, trade agreements and arrangements (such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Economic Partnership Agreements among others), World Trade Organization issues, supply-chains, trade and industrial development, trade in services, export strategies, gender and inclusion, aid-for-trade, trade and illicit financial flows, and the political economy and policy challenges of implementing trade policy in Africa. ATPC employs a range of analytical tools in its work such as modelling of trade policies and agreements, including through computable general equilibrium techniques.