The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has confirmed a strategic partnership with the 6th All Africa Intellectual Property (IP) Summit, scheduled for the 12th to 14th November 2025 in Dakar, Senegal. This partnership is a game-changer for Africa’s IP landscape. It aligns the Summit’s mission with AfCFTA’s ambitious agenda to harmonize intellectual property rules across the continent, facilitating smoother trade, investment, and innovation flows.
The partnership explicitly links Africa’s trade and IP agenda with the Summit’s theme, “Building an Inclusive IP Ecosystem for Africa’s Future”, which focuses on leveraging IP to drive development, innovation, and regional integration.
What is the significance of the AfCFTA in the Africa IP ecosystem and why this partnership matters:
- Bridging IP and Trade for Inclusive Growth.
The AfCFTA is the largest free trade area and Africa’s flagship trade integration initiative, and a robust IP framework is critical to its success. The AfCFTA Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights aims to harmonize IP rules and standards, fostering inclusive growth and sustainable development by enabling a unified African market. This objective is closely aligned with the aspirations of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, which envisions an Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development.
The Protocol covers a comprehensive range of IP rights—including patents, trademarks, copyrights, traditional knowledge, and emerging technologies—and seeks to balance robust protection with access to knowledge and technology transfer. With IP at the center of trade, innovation, and development, this partnership promises to play a transformative role in the All Africa Intellectual Property Summit (AAIPS) 2025, ensuring that the evolving continental IP agenda is closely tied to Africa’s broader trade and development priorities.
“The AfCFTA Secretariat is actively working to identify and bridge systematic gaps and weaknesses in the existing IP framework across the continent. The goal is to develop an inclusive, participatory, and efficient IP system that supports intra-Africa trade.” From the AAIPS 2025 Report
The AAIPS 6th Edition will explore the AfCFTA Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights and annexes. These annexes, currently under negotiation, aim to harmonize IP laws and principles across member states. As AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene has emphasised, “implementing the IP Rights Protocol [is] a key step in developing a robust generic pharmaceutical manufacturing base in Africa”. In other words, IP rules will be used to support new industries and value chains across the continent.
- Shared Objective of Shaping the future of IP in Africa.
The partnership between the Summit and the AfCFTA Secretariat reflects a shared commitment to building an inclusive IP ecosystem that supports Africa’s trade and development efforts. With the adoption of the AfCFTA Protocol on Intellectual Property Rights in February 2023, the continent has already taken a significant step toward harmonising IP regimes to facilitate innovation, protect African creativity, and support intra-African trade. The partnership for the upcoming Summit ensures that the IP agenda is fully integrated into the broader goals of the AfCFTA, promoting competitiveness, industrialization, and value addition across borders.
Dr. Tsotetsi Makong (PhD), the Director Coordination and Programmes at AfCFTA Secretariat, sharing insights into the AfCFTA framework at the AAIPS 5th Edition
Dr. Tsotetsi Makong at the AAIPS 2025, representing His Excellency Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat. His goodwill message was on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA. He stressed the importance of institutional, regulatory, and purposeful infrastructural capacity to effectively implement IP policies. Watch part of his address here
Join a diverse range of stakeholders—including IP and trade experts, policymakers, business leaders under the AfCFTA, and researchers—to engage in strategic discussions on embedding IP into continental value chains, strengthening enforcement frameworks, and ensuring inclusive access to IP tools. Together, the Summit and the AfCFTA Secretariat are advancing a unified vision: a connected and inclusive IP landscape that underpins Africa’s future as a dynamic and innovation-driven trade bloc.
The partnership is expected to yield concrete results for Africa’s IP ecosystem. The Summit will provide a platform to assess the opportunities and challenges presented by the AfCFTA, generating actionable plans and policy recommendations that will directly inform and support the implementation of the AfCFTA’s IP Protocol. Last year’s Summit delegates already resolved to “develop an Africa-centric IP framework,” highlighting that harmonized IP systems and simpler processes for SMEs are continent-wide priorities. With concerted efforts and joint discussions from distinguished industry leaders in IP and Trade all over Africa, the Summit will explore how national governments leverage the AfCFTA to advance their IP regimes and contribute to the broader goals of the agreement. The All Africa IP Summit is committed to driving the creation of a robust and inclusive IP ecosystem that empowers creators, entrepreneurs, communities, and businesses across the continent. By partnering with the AfCFTA, whose core mission is to liberalize trade and promote industrial development, this collaboration will help unlock Africa’s full economic potential and accelerate sustainable growth for all.
Ultimately, this strategic partnership highlights that intellectual property can be a catalyst for Africa’s future prosperity. By embedding IP rights into the AfCFTA ecosystem, the continent stands to better protect homegrown innovations and cultural assets, spur private-sector R&D and ensure that African creators and industries reap the benefits of their creativity. There is no doubt that making intellectual property the backbone of Africa’s innovation will advance both regional trade integration and innovation-led growth.
The All Africa IP Summit 2025, now strengthened by this strategic partnership, is poised to be a pivotal event in realizing this vision. Together, AfCFTA and the All Africa IP Summit are set to drive Africa’s IP agenda towards building a continent where innovation thrives and economic opportunities abound.
Ready to be part of the discussions in Dakar, Senegal, from 12th to 14th November, 2025? Register now and secure your seat. Be part of this transformative journey to shape the Africa we want!.
