The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today launched a groundbreaking publication on regional integration in Africa. The report, called Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA), provides a comprehensive evaluation of the state of Africa's integration process, showing where efforts have succeeded or failed including why intra African trade remains low; and how lack of macro-economic policy convergence and insufficient infrastructures hamper integration. A striking example is the transport sector, where shipping a car from Japan to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, costs $1,500; while shipping that same car from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Abidjan would cost up to $5,000. The report also articulates how Regional Economic Communities (RECs) can be strengthened to play their role as building blocs of the new African Union (AU).
The report finds that although progress has been made in a number of areas, overall, this has been limited relative to the goals established by African leaders. The report makes several recommendations on accelerating the integration process. Some of the key recommendations include the need for the AU and RECs to be endowed with greater financial and human capital; and be granted relevant supranational authority to enable them to enforce treaty obligations. The recommendations cover both institutional arrangements and sectoral policy issues.
The ARIA publication is divided into two parts. Part I fleshes out the imperative of integration as a strategy to engender transformation and growth payoffs for Africa, advancing both economic and political supporting arguments. It raises some of the critical institutional challenges facing the process and highlights priorities for urgent action so that the new African Union can live to its expectation of accelerating Africa's integration. Among the priorities is the imperative to strengthen and empower the RECs as the nerve centres for the AU. Integration of markets, infrastructure and institutions will also require efficient regional and sub-regional market-supporting standards, policies, rules, and regulations. Part II of the publication assesses integration efforts in the sectors of trade, money and finance, infrastructure, manufacturing, natural resources and human resources. It also addresses cross-cutting issues including peace and security, HIV/AIDs and Gender. Each of the sectoral chapters provides a Way Forward as to what needs to be done to enhance progress in the sector.
ARIA is the first of periodic reports that ECA intends to produce on regional integration in Africa. In this regard, the second edition of ARIA is expected to come out by the second half of 2005.
