Across Africa and Latin America, citizens are increasingly asking the same question: can the state actually deliver? The challenge is no longer simply achieving economic growth, but turning growth into productive transformation, jobs, competitiveness, and shared prosperity. At the heart of this debate is the idea of a “capable state”: one that coordinates economic actors, mobilizes capabilities, and creates the conditions for businesses and productive ecosystems to flourish. The capable state is not a return to the interventionist model that both regions have experimented with, often unsuccessfully. It represents a different vision of state capacity: not a state that seeks to control the economy, but one that enables it to transform. Its success is measured not by the reach of its control, but by the productive capabilities it unlocks. Have African and Latin American countries achieved this? Not yet. The gap between citizens expectations and the states ability is eroding public trust. And, in some contexts, fuelling political upheaval and regime change. Continue reading on LatinoAmérica21.

The AfCFTA has now moved substantially from negotiation to implementation, with the core legal architecture largely in place. The latest Tralac (Trade Law Centre) guide provides an updated overview of the Agreement, its protocols and the remaining implementation gaps. On rules of origin, negotiations have been concluded and the rules have been approved. The main outstanding issues in the operationalisation of trade in goods are therefore no longer the substantive negotiation of rules of origin, but the completion and implementation of tariff concessions. Tariff offers are still being submitted and verified, while some State Parties have yet to complete and adopt their schedules of specific commitments for trade in services. By contrast, negotiations on the Protocol on Rules and Procedures for the Settlement of Disputes have been concluded.

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