Marrakech — African leaders have intensified their efforts to promote regional integration as evidenced by establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), ratifying the agreement and their readiness for effective implementation.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) organized an event on the sidelines of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (COM) in order to inform policy makers on regional integration dynamics in Africa and the next steps for implementing the AfCFTA agreement through its flagship reports: a) Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA IX) b) African Regional Integration Index (ARII) Report 2019. The two reports are prepared in partnership with the African Union and African Development Bank. In addition, UNCTAD is a partner in the preparation of ARIA 9 report.
In introducing the reports, Mr. David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Center, noted that the level of regional integration remained low, particularly on trade integration, infrastructure, free movement of people among other dimensions although there are differences between countries and regional economic communities. He also noted that remarkable progress has been made on the AfCFTA with 52 out of 55 having signed the agreement, 21 ratified and 15 countries deposited the instruments but stressed the need for effective implementation following the entry into force of the agreement.
The reports were discussed by a high level panel. Ms. Latifa Bouabdellaoui, Director for International Affairs, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Digital Economy of Morocco emphasized that African countries must develop sectoral strategies from agriculture to manufacturing including agribusiness that are convergent and leverage their comparative strengths.
For the AfCFTA to be a real game changer for African economies, it must be implemented alongside prerequisite measures and flanking policies of the development of regional infrastructure (hard, soft and digital), free movement of people and goods across Africa, active engagement of the private sector, the development of MSMEs, strengthened industrialization, good governance and political stability, among others.
Ms. Leila Mokadem the Country Representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), announced that efforts are being made to reorient the Bank's Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) towards supporting implementation of the AfCFTA including through supportive measures such as promoting the free movement of people, developing regional infrastructure and encouraging the spread of value chains and RVCs.
The Assistant Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Dr. Kipyego Cheluget, commended ECA for the preparation of this report. He underscored the importance of analytical tools to measure progress on regional integration. He noted that COMESA has introduced a number of trade facilitation initiatives, such as the "yellow card", the non-tariff barrier (NTB) reporting mechanism, digital FTA, and the establishment of the PTA bank, which are complementary to the AfCFTA.
The ninth edition of ARIA and the second edition of ARII will be released in the third quarter of the year 2019. They will provide key messages and recommendations to better support the regional integration process and indicate next steps for implementing the AfCFTA agreement including options for the AfCFTA phase II negotiations.
