STUDY REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: The AfCFTA Perspective Fredu Nega(PhD)| Gebrehiwot Ageba(PhD)| Edris H. Seid November, 2021 The African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA) came into effect in 2019 with the objective of creating a single continental market for goods and services, free movement of persons to deepen the continent’s integration. This study attempts to assess the impact of this initiative on the Horn of African countries. It finds that the AfCFTA can boost countries’ export, promote intra­regional trade and contribute to the poverty reduction efforts. When the agreement is fully operational, countries will be obliged to introduce tariff liberalization measures and will have wide ranging implications on their economies. Through its direct impact on trade liberalization, such regional integration initiative could affect countries’ citizens through various channels. The overall implications indeed depend on the structure of the economies in terms of informality, labor composition(skilled and unskilled), and population structure(urban and rural). In that sense it is critical to investigate and identify complementary policies that enhance the effects of tariff reductions, which alone imply small and asymmetric impacts on African countries. Complementary policies are necessary to maximize the gains of the AfCFTA but also to ensure that its benefits are shared broadly to produce a win-win outcome for all countries.