David Luke is professor in practice and strategic director at the London School of Economics Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, where he oversees the Africa Trade Programme. He is a former director of the African Trade Policy Centre at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), where he led the technical work on the protocols that make up the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. His research interests include boosting intra-African trade, the AfCFTA initiative, Africa’s multilateral and bilateral trade relationships, and cross-cutting policy areas such as trade, industrialisation and structural transformation, trade, inclusion and gender, trade and public health, and trade and climate change.Jonathan Bashi is a legal scholar whose work and research interests focus on the correlation between international law, trade and development. His work experience spans higher education, the private sector and international development, including more recently as a consultant for a UK Aid private sector development programme in the DRC, focusing on building the capacity of cross-border traders’ associations in eastern DRC. He holds a PhD in law from SOAS, University of London, where he is currently a lecturer. He led the research for this book on Africa’s trade relations with the UK, India, Turkey, Japan, Russia and Brazil.Geoffroy Guepie is a research associate at the UMR Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales, Université de Pau, France. He has also served as a researcher at the African Trade Policy Centre at the UN Economic Commission for Africa. His research interests include international economics, trade policies, mainly African regional trade agreements, economic geography and civil conflicts in Africa. He is widely published. He holds a PhD in economics from the Université de Pau. He led the research for this book on EU–Africa trade, regional economic communities, and whether supply chains localised during Covid-19.Jamie MacLeod is a trade economist whose work spans trade negotiations, policy design and research, and is a policy fellow with the Africa Trade Policy Programme at the London School of Economics Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. He has worked on trade policy issues with a focus on the African continent for the last 10 years, including with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the International Trade Centre, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. He was previously an ODI fellow with the Ghanaian Ministry of Trade and Industry. He holds an MSc in economics for development from the University of Oxford, where he was a Snell scholar. He led the research for this book on Africa’s trade and investment flows, the AfCFTA including negotiations during Covid-19, US–Africa trade, and Covid-19’s impact on trade in goods and services, supply chains, digital trade and e-commerce.Kulani McCartan-Demie is an international consultant with a background in technical assistance and cross-cutting research in economic transformation, trade facilitation, industrial policy and gender mainstreaming. She is the founder and director of the Organisation for Economic Transformation, a think tank specialising in advisory and consultancy services. She has worked on policy design and implementation of inclusive trade facilitation, agro-industries and industrial park development for organisations including UNIDO, GIZ, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the African Development Bank. She holds an MPhil in development studies with distinction from the University of Cambridge. She led the research for this book on Africa’s trade relations with China and on informal cross-border trade during the Covid-19 pandemic.Colette van der Ven is an international lawyer with expertise in trade and sustainable development. As founder and director of the Geneva-based TULIP Consulting, she advises governments and international organisations on how to leverage regulatory frameworks and trade agreements to promote inclusive and green development. She is also a visiting lecturer in international economic law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. Previously, she worked as an international trade lawyer for Sidley Austin, representing governments in international disputes before panels and the Appellate Body at the World Trade Organization. She holds a juris doctor from Harvard Law School and a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and is a member of the New York Bar. She led the research for this book on the WTO.
