African Global Trade Institute (AfGTI)

We are a world-class institute for training and research in international trade law, industrial and trade policy, and economics. 

AfGTI is an African institute founded by Africans motivated by the advent of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We believe that the AfCFTA will transform intra-African trade and that we should be part of the drive to develop understanding and skills in international trade to enable the continent to utilise its comparative advantage. The implementation of the AfCFTA hinges on a skilled workforce, and our training is at the forefront of this drive.

AfGTI was therefore formed to develop the skills, capabilities, and thinking of practitioners, government officials, and industry players on international trade law and policy, and economics. 

Vision & Mission

Our motto at AfGTI is “where the thinking happens”.  The international trade law community is dynamic and requires knowledge of statistics, accounting, and the law. Our training brings all these areas together practically and visually using real-world data.

We seek to up-skill the African continent to ensure that the goals of the AfCFTA will be achieved. We believe international trade has the greatest potential to address poverty on the African continent. The mission is to become the leading international trade law and economics training institute.

Collaborators

The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria is our collaborator in conjunction with us to develop skills and knowledge in international trade law and policy, and economies. The CHR is the leading academic institution in Africa on matters of international trade law and policy.

Courses offered

Our courses are tailored to the real world, being developed by leading academics, consultants, and practitioners from all over the world. Our training is based on our extensive consulting background that anchors our training in real-world experiences built over the last twenty years since the advent of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Thus, our courses have a strong focus on data and learned experience. Therefore, our courses are built on the scholarly values of curiosity, evidence-led, research-driven, critical thinking, and problem-solving.

The course material is comprehensive, current, visual, and very approachable.

Our approach to thinking and learning

We use a blended learning approach using face-to-face, online, and live lectures and assessments solely designed to up-skill our students. The classes are based on case studies and current economic, industrial and trade policy and thinking. We see learning as an iterative student-centred approach with our trainees taking ownership of the learning process.

Our courses are offered under the banner of the University of Pretoria. Therefore, our trainees are able to use our certificates in any course to get employment and for career advancement.

In general, our courses cover 3 broad areas: Short Courses, Bespoke Courses tailored to the needs of clients and a Regional Offering for the global community.