39TH ORDINARY SUMMIT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION IN ETHIOPIA INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA-ZLECAF HELD THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2026 IN ADDIS ABABA WITH THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF THE DRC THROUGH ITS MINISTER OF FOREIGN TRADE, JULIEN PALUKU KAHONGYA REPRESENTING THE HEAD OF STATE, FÉLIX TSHISEKEDI TSHILOMBO
African Heads of State and Government undertake to become more involved in accelerating the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area-ZLECAF which aims to promote intra-African trade with the creation of a single market for the African continent, thus the governments of member countries are called upon to put in place public policies to develop key sectors including trade, agriculture, industry, energy, and infrastructure to facilitate trade; this is the major decision which sanctioned the inaugural meeting of the Committee of Heads of State and Government on the effective implementation of the AfCFTA, chaired this Friday, February 13, 2026 in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia by the Kanyan Head of State, William Ruto, on the sidelines of the 39th ordinary summit of the African Union which opens this Saturday.
On behalf of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Minister of Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya, representing the President of the Republic Félix Tshisekedi Tshilombo pleaded for the strengthening of the commitment of sectoral ministries including Foreign Trade and Finance through a transversal and inclusive approach, economic pragmatism in the face of fiscal challenges by dispelling fears linked to the immediate drop in customs revenue while favoring structural gains to short, medium and long term like models such as the European Union and MERCOSUR, a Free Trade Area which brings together several South American countries.
Established in February 2024 by the 37th ordinary summit of Heads of State and Government, this committee made up of 10 Heads of State who represent the zones of North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa has the mission of receiving and executing the mandates of the Assembly on the acceleration of the implementation of the ZLECAF, facilitating the resolution of outstanding negotiation issues, supervise and control the implementation of all ZLECAF agreements, monitor political, socio-economic and external developments likely to affect the viability and implementation of the ZLECAF, examine the issues dealt with by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Trade of the ZLECAF and mobilize the necessary resources.
