I.A.M - Magazine - Page 39
REGIONAL ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES
The heartbeat of Africa’s Integration - RECs leaders
in their own words
Regional Economic Communities are
the vital arteries through which
Africa's development flows,
connecting nations and uplifting
people across borders
The African Union recognizes eight Regional
Economic Communities (RECs) as the
building blocks of continental integration. The
leadership of these eight RECs are tasked with
implementing the complex machinery of
regional integration. Here we feature in brief,
some remarks from public statements six of
them have made in the course of their work.
They reveals both shared aspirations and
region-specific challenges, in their shared goal
of a better and a continent its 1.3 billion people
deserve. As such RECs are instrumental to
Africa's development aspirations. They are the
vital arteries through which Africa's
development flows, connecting nations and
uplifting people across borders. They facilitate
increased intra-African trade by removing
tariff barriers and harmonizing trade policies,
allowing nations to leverage comparative
advantages. As economic blocs, RECs
strengthen Africa's collective bargaining
power in global trade negotiations, ensuring
more equitable international partnerships.
RECs also catalyze vital infrastructure
development—connecting roads, energy
networks, and digital systems that transcend
national boundaries and reduce the cost of
doing
business. They
foster
policy
coordination on regional challenges from
climate change to security, enabling
collaborative solutions to shared problems.
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