I.A.M - Magazine - Page 13
LEADERS CORNER
INTEGRATE AFRICA CAN NO
LONGER WAIT…the AFDB
Group’s commitment in pumping
the wheels that help make this a
reality, is unwavering.
The benefits of an integrated Africa region go beyond
the continent.
In enabling Africa to harness its
undeniably vast potential and overcome fragmentation,
regional integration will strengthen the continent’s
capability to compete as well as engage more
beneficially in global trade. With 54 countries - most of
which have small, isolated markets: 16 of these 54
being landlocked and 19 having populations under 5
million people - integration for Africa is not just a good
policy option. It is quintessential to Africa’s survival,
and progress.
Recent projections indicate that effective implementation
of the AfCFTA’s protocol on trade in services will create
85 million new jobs. When trade facilitation measures
are factored in, it becomes obvious that the power of
regulations as a stimulus for driving transformation is
unstoppable.
Regional integration will facilitate free movement of
goods, services, and people, boosting industrialization,
economies of scale, as well as foreign investment. This
is expected to reduce dependency on external
markets, strengthen supply chains, and promote
regional value chains. All these could also critically help
shape positive perceptions about Africa, affecting other
critical factors like the continent’s high-risk premium,
which affects the cost of borrowing.
Through regional integration, Africa could close some
of its infrastructure gaps, enhance productivity,
developeconomically, create decent jobs and most
importantly,release millions of Africans from the
chokehold of poverty, by pooling resources and
harmonizing policies, Africa.
AfDB’s Investments in Regional Integration
As the premier pan African multilateral development
finance institution, the AfDB Group has been leading
regional integration across the continent, through
strategic initiatives and substantial infrastructure
investments in roads, highways, railways, seaports.
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energy generation and sub-regional power pools.
Since the 13th cycle of the African Development Fund
(ADF), AfDB investments have yield over 25 smart
economic corridors, supporting over 239 million people
in priority sectors like road, ports, river systems,
agriculture, energy, ICT and others.
The AfDB has invested in significant corridors such as
the Nacala Road Corridor which resulted in travel times
and vehicle operating costs being reduced by 40% and
30% respectively. Through the Central Africa Backbone
Project, 330 km of fibre-optic cables were laid with the
project creating 1,782 jobs. The Bank also financed the
construction of the Sene-Gambia Bridge connecting
Gambia with Senegal. A journey that used to take
hours, even days, to cross by ferry, or boat, is now
reduced to 45 minutes by road through the bridge.
The project also created 1,000 jobs, increased cross
border trade activities and freight costs reduced by 50-90%.
But, the vision of an integrated Africa will not happen by
chance. As such, the AfDB Group’s commitment in
pumping the wheels that help make this a reality, is
unwavering. The Integrate Africa pillar in the AfDB’s
new Ten-Year Strategy attests to this commitment.
Priority areas include:
Scaling up infrastructure connectivity – which
draws on the Bank’s strong comparative advantage
in regional and cross-border projects.
Promoting cross-border trade and investment to support implementation of the AfCFTA and
regional trade agreements. Our TYS firmly outlines
how the Bank will support improvement of the
regulatory environment for regional integration,
working with African countries and Regional
Economic Communities (RECs) to eliminate tariff
and non-tariff barriers to trade, harmonise laws and
regulations, build the capacity to meet product
standards, and support regional value chain
development.
Deepening Africa’s financial integration – to
enable financial institutions become regional
players that are capable of facilitating cross-border
trade, banking, and payments, and supporting
integration of capital markets.
A Visa-free Africa: Without doubt, seamless
movement of Africans across its borders, is the
pulse of integration. The entire investment
proposition in Agenda 2063 is ultimately for Africans.
For every African to be a change agent
efficiently contributing to the ‘Africa We Want’, they
must be able to move around the continent freely.
