ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the AfCFTA could accelerate trade between Africa and East Asia. It argues that the rising wage in East Asia and their advance to more complex production processes make Africa a reasonable choice to take over low-end manufacturing tasks. Asia’s economic success over the last few decades created a strong aspiration among African countries and encouraged them to take bold measures. Africa and Asia have gone through colonization and share some similarities, making Asia a natural choice to draw lessons from. By utilizing the current opportunities created by the AfCFTA and the RCEP, Africa should apply lessons from Asia to participate in global value chains to advance the trade relationship between the two regions and the rest of the world. The AfCFTA and the RCEP are very timely and can potentially transform the trade and investment relations between Africa and Asia.
