Ethiopia: Seven Suggestions for Fast-Tracking AfCFTA Implementation
So much has been said so far about the significant and drastic transformation that the AfCFTA can bring about for Africa. The leaders of the continent have also worked with commitment to sign the agreement, endorse it and enter in to force.
Looking ahead to the next five years, to 2030, the AfCFTA should serve as the glue that binds Africa’s economic integration. How? The following seven points were suggested by Former Vice-President of Nigeria, Oluyemi Osinbajo during the 2025 Adebayo Adedeji Memorial Lecture, held on the occasion of the 57th Ministerial Conference of African Ministers of Finance and Economic Development that took place on mid-February here in Addis Ababa.
The first is Developed Regional Value Chains: By 2030, Africa should have established robust regional value chains in key sectors such as automotive, pharmaceuticals, agro_processing, and digital services. These value chains should incorporate producers from multiple countries, leveraging comparative advantages.
The second is Interconnected Infrastructure: A comprehensive network of roads, railways, ports, and digital infrastructure should seamlessly connect African markets, reducing logistics costs to competitive levels globally.
The third is a Digital Trade Revolution: Digital trade, fintech, and e_commerce represent Africa’s opportunity to leapfrog traditional development constraints. Africa now accounts for half of the world’s mobile money accounts and is ahead of most regions in fintech and payment solutions. The Pan_African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) must be operational across all member states, allowing businesses to trade in local currencies without conversion costs. Africa’s creative economy – music, film, fashion, and digital content – valued at nearly $59 billion, should grow to become a cornerstone of intra-African trade, especially through digital channels.
The fourth is Technology_Driven Production Systems: By 2030, African manufacturing must be transformed through technology-driven production systems. Smart factories equipped with advanced robotics should be processing our raw materials into finished products. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) should enable localized production of complex components, reducing dependence on imports. The Internet of Things should connect production facilities across borders, creating integrated manufacturing ecosystems where a design developed in Rwanda can be instantly produced in facilities across Ghana, Kenya, and Morocco. Artificial intelligence should optimize these production systems, predicting maintenance needs, managing supply chains, and ensuring quality control far more effectively than traditional methods. These technologies will enable African producers to achieve unprecedented levels of productivity, quality, and customization.
The fifth is Financial Integration: African capital markets should be integrated, enabling companies to raise funds across the continent. Regional stock exchanges should facilitate cross border investments, and harmonized financial regulations should allow financial institutions to operate seamlessly across multiple jurisdictions.
The sixth is Free Movement of People: African professionals, entrepreneurs, and workers should be able to move freely across borders, contributing their skills and talents where they are most needed. This will activate the full potential of the services component of the AfCFTA.
The seventh is taking advantage of our climate competitiveness: 60% of renewable energy potential, 40% of critical minerals, a large young workforce to become the first green industrial civilization in the world, providing new green jobs and opportunities by adopting the Climate positive Growth paradigm of development endorsed by the AU at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi 2023.
Let me conclude by saying that the success or failure of the AfCFTA will turn on one central point: Leadership. African leadership must consider the continental trade agreement important enough to lead the effort to implement it. Indeed to achieve tangible results “regional integration should be an intentional political project. The same passion and priority accorded to decolonization and anti-apartheid should inform the regional integration of Africa.
The best positioned to lead this effort are the largest African economies, as my friend Ambassador Adeyemi Dipeolu puts it “the African economic hegemons (the larger African economies by economic and population size and structural progress) should step up to the plate, Hegemons should lead industrialization efforts, Hegemons should arrange compensation mechanisms” they must lead the charge. Also we must be able to attach some names to this effort. The history of the AU is replete with actual political leaders and public intellectuals and technocrats who stuck out their necks and even staked their careers on the success of the AU.
Africa needs its own names of leaders who understand that integration is existential for Africa. African political and private sector leaders must be persuaded that trade-led development is a tide huge enough to ensure that every ship floats. They must believe, like Adebayo Adedeji did, that the individual success of African nations is best assured by the success of the African continent. The journey of African integration that Adedeji envisioned decades ago is now at a critical juncture. The AfCFTA provides us with the tools to realize his vision of a unified, prosperous Africa. It is our collective responsibility to turn this vision into reality – not just for ourselves, but for future generations of Africans who deserve to inherit a continent that has fulfilled its immense potential.
Crédito: Link de origem