31 PROTOCOL ON TRADE IN SERVICES PREAMBLE WE, Member States of the African Union, DETERMINED to establish a continental framework of principles and rules for trade in services with a view to boosting intra-African trade in line with the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and promoting economic growth and development within the continent; DESIROUS to create, on the basis of progressive liberalisation of trade in services, an open, rules based, transparent, inclusive and integrated single services market which provides economic, social and welfare-enhancing opportunities across all sectors for the African people; MINDFUL of the urgent need to consolidate and build on achievements in services liberalisation and regulatory harmonisation at the Regional Economic Community (REC) and continental levels; DESIRING to harness the potential and capacities of African services suppliers, in particular at the micro, small and medium levels, to engage in regional and global value chains; RECOGNISING the right of State Parties to regulate in pursuit of national policy objectives, and to introduce new regulations, on the supply of services, within their territories, in order to meet legitimate national policy objectives, including competitiveness, consumer protection and overall sustainable development with respect to the degree of the development of services regulations in different countries, the particular need for State Parties to exercise this right, without compromising consumer protection, environmental protection and overall sustainable development; COGNISANT of the serious difficulty of the least developed, land locked, island states and vulnerable economies in view of their special economic situation and their development, trade and financial needs; ACKNOWLEDGING the African Union Assembly Decision Assembly/AU/666 (XXX) adopted at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 28 January 2018 on the Establishment of a Single African Air Transport Market through the Implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision; FURTHER RECOGNISING the potentially significant contribution of air transport services and, in particular, the Single African Air Transport Market to boost intra-African trade and fast track the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),