Africa’s trade and intellectual property worlds don’t often share a stage. That changed on the
sidelines of the 18th Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade in
Abuja, when the All-Africa Intellectual Property Summit (AAIPS) honoured AfCFTA
Secretary-General Wamkele Mene with the All-Africa Intellectual Property Leadership and
Continental Integration Award.

A Recognition Rooted in Implementation.

The award, presented by AAIPS Chairman Sand Mba Kalu during a courtesy visit to the
AfCFTA Secretariat, recognised Mene’s role in moving the AfCFTA from a signed agreement
to a functioning platform for trade, industrial development, and economic opportunity across
the continent. Kalu framed the honour as recognition of a shift already underway across the
AfCFTA project: a shift from aspiration to implementation, from political commitment to
practical economic activity, and from continental vision to an operational trade framework.
That framing matters for anyone tracking Africa’s regional integration story. Trade
agreements are easy to sign and hard to operationalise, and Kalu’s remarks positioned Mene’s
stewardship as evidence that the AfCFTA is doing the harder, less visible work of
implementation.

Why This Belongs in the IP Conversation

The more consequential part of the exchange was the call for closer institutional ties between
AAIPS and the AfCFTA Secretariat, specifically to support implementation of the AfCFTA
Intellectual Property Rights Protocol. Kalu pushed for the relationship to move beyond
goodwill and occasional engagement toward formal, structured continental collaboration.
Mene’s response is worth sitting with. He described the IP Protocol as more than a legal
instrument, positioning it instead as a lever for industrial development, for strengthening
public health through local pharmaceutical manufacturing, and for reducing the continent’s
reliance on imports. He also confirmed that all AfCFTA protocols have now been concluded,
meaning the continental trade project has moved fully into an implementation phase, with
private sector engagement identified as the key to realising the Agreement’s benefits.

The Nairobi Connection

The exchange also reaffirmed both institutions’ commitment to deepening collaboration
ahead of the 7th All Africa Intellectual Property Summit, set for Nairobi this November. For a
Nairobi-based IP community preparing to host that gathering, this is a meaningful signal: the
summit isn’t just a convening of practitioners and academics, but is being positioned by its
own leadership as a platform with a direct line to continental trade policy and the AfCFTA’s
institutional agenda.

Why It Matters

For those of us working in IP law across the continent, this moment is a useful marker. It
confirms that the AfCFTA IP Rights Protocol is being treated as a genuine implementation priority, not a peripheral annex to the broader trade agreement. It also suggests that African IP
institutions like AAIPS are actively positioning themselves as implementation partners rather
than observers, a shift worth watching as we head toward AAIPS 2026 in Nairobi. The
convergence of trade and IP policy that this award symbolises is exactly the kind of structural
development that will shape how issues like local pharmaceutical production, regional
harmonisation, and cross-border enforcement play out over the next several years.

Source: CTV-Africa, “AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene Bags Africa Intellectual Property Leadership Award,” published 1 July 2026. https://ctvafrica.com/afcfta-secretary-
general-wamkele-mene-bags-africa-intellectual-property-leadership-award/