By: Van
Soul Addey
Sierra Leone is advancing
the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Protocol
on Investment following a two-day stakeholder engagement and capacity-building
workshop in Freetown.
The AfCFTA Secretariat, in
collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone, convened the Stakeholder
Engagement, Validation and Capacity-Building Workshop on September 14–15, 2026,
to assess the country’s investment framework and identify practical priorities
for reform.
Held under the Protocol on
Investment Implementation and Support Programme (PIISP), with support from ODI
Global, the workshop brought together government institutions, private-sector
representatives and other stakeholders to validate a diagnostic of Sierra
Leone’s investment framework.
Discussions focused on
strengthening institutional coordination, improving the transparency and
accessibility of investment information, and aligning investment laws, policies
and strategies more closely at the national, ECOWAS and continental levels.
Participants also considered
which institutions should lead specific reforms and the sequence in which the
identified reforms should be undertaken, with the aim of moving from assessment
to practical implementation.
The next step will be to
translate the outcomes of the workshop into a practical roadmap for legal,
policy and institutional reforms, while strengthening Sierra Leone’s capacity
to attract and facilitate sustainable and intra-African investment.
The process is intended to
connect Sierra Leone’s national investment reforms with the wider commitments
under the AfCFTA Investment Protocol and address the practical needs of
governments, investors and businesses.
