IGF 2023 Open Forum #77 Data Flows for Africa’s Digital Single Market

From 1 January 2021, free trading within Africa officially commenced under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In the near future, along with ongoing digital transformation, a significant proportion of trading occurring in Africa is expected to be undertaken digitally as a twin outcome of the realization of the free trading area as well as growing datafication and shifts towards digital and data driven economies on the continent. Africa’s reliance on digital trade will also increase the volume of personal and non-personal, industrial and public data in circulation within the continent. It is therefore crucial to establish enabling and trusted data governance structures at both the national and regional level, where the harmonisation of policy, legal and regulatory frameworks will guide the processing and use of data while simultaneously enabling e-commerce and digital trade. However, for this to occur, African countries and other stakeholders can leverage negotiations occurring in terms of the digital trade protocol of the AfCFTA and can also harness the work already done, namely the AU Data Policy Framework and Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, which set a continental agenda for data governance to promote efficient use of data in support of intra-Africa digital trade and economy.

This session will bring together diverse participants to discuss, in a multistakeholder manner, the challenges, opportunities and current achievements in regard to digital trade and data governance issues arising from the implementation and negotiation of the AfCFTA protocol on digital trade, including the cross-border transfer of personal data while considering South-South best practices and digital trade agreements.


To facilitate suitable alignment between hybrid attendance and onsite participation, the moderators will be reminded before the session of the importance of providing sufficient space for online participants to participate, to make comments and/or ask questions, before opening the floor to onsite participants, who have an advantage by being in the room. Panellists will participate both online and onsite in order to set the scene for hybrid participation. The online moderator will also make use of the chat function to engage with participants. Before starting the session, all participants will be reminded of the rules of engagement - of the need to have respect for other participants’ views while adhering to the IGF’s code of conduct. An AI tool will be used to simultaneously take notes of the session in order to improve participation and interaction.