The West African Regional Integration Associations Undertake to Raise the Awareness of the People

27 November 2014
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

The West African Regional Integration Associations undertake to raise the awareness of the people

The Network of Associations for the Integration and Development of Africa (RAIDA) organized in Niamey, Niger on November 7 to 9, 2014, in the Sani Bako Auditorium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, African Integration and Nigeriens Abroad, an international conference, the theme of which was "The Contributions of African youth for the Economic Development of the Continent".

Placed under the distinguished patronage of the Minister of African Integration, this conference, which gathered together a dozen associations from West African countries working towards regional integration, allowed them to review the status of African regional integration through the causes, consequences and solutions under consideration to establish a solid foundation for a real integration of African countries.

Thus, conscious that no real integration can be achieved without the involvement of youth, who represent over 60% of the African population, the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA SRO-WA) took advantage of this regional meeting to hold a conference and debate entitled "Regional integration in Africa: challenges for youth". This conference was facilitated by Dr Jean Luc Mastaki Namegabé, Economist from the Regional Initiatives Section of the SRO-WA. In his presentation to which the participants listened carefully, Dr. Mastaki said that regional integration, which is today a priority for all the African states, constitutes an efficient way to accelerate economic development and to successfully insert our continent into globalization.

This integration aims at eliminating all the obstacles to the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons, as well as to the right of residence and establishment of citizens. It is also, the speaker continued, an essential instrument for increasing competitivity, economic diversification and the creation of adequate employment for young people. He added that integration undeniably stimulates the economic transformation and industrialization of Africa. The speaker suggested however, that obviously problems arise here and there which de facto hold back regional integration. Among these are notably the nature of African exports which are essentially commodities, the low share of the continent in global trade, border crossing procedures that are cumbersome and opaque, the limited use of ICTs and a very low rate of literacy in certain countries.

Faced with all of these challenges, which are a real bottleneck for regional integration in West Africa, there are sources of inspiration and reason for hope. Dr. Jean Luc Mastaki noted that this is where the Vision 2063 of the African Union should be stressed as an Action Plan for which the major objective remains the building of a prosperous and united Africa, founded on common values and a shared destiny. It requires a strengthening of the competitivity of African economies with greater investments in human resources, science, technology and infrastructures for which youth are the primary beneficiaries. This is why this essential link in the development of the continent with over 200 million inhabitants and its integration, according to the joint report African Economic Outlook (AfDB, UNDP, ECA, OECD) should become familiar with the opportunities and challenges of African integration and should develop into effective relays for the popularization of the objectives and mobilization of the general public around the ideals of regional integration.

As this is a major component in national strategies of development, young people should appropriate this concept and build their capacity to take part in the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of the rights of the community. Finally, the speaker concluded by calling on young people to mobilize their associations around the deepening of regional integration.

This conference was followed by many questions, to which Dr. Mastaki gave relevant responses that enabled the participants to further develop their knowledge on regional integration and its major challenges for African youth.

This international conference on integration in Niamey, apart from the fruitful dialogues that it generated between the ECA and the West African associations working towards economic integration as members of the Network of Associations for Integration and Development in Africa (RAIDA), adopted some key measures, among which the Associations decided, would from now on be raising the awareness of the public on the importance of African integration

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