Unlocking Africa's Economic Potential: The Road to a Borderless Continent

The African Union Commission plays a pivotal role in championing for free movement of people and goods among the member states. The African Continental Free Trade Area Guided Trade Initiative will serve as a gateway to encourage continued trade under the AfCFTA, resulting in increased opportunities for SMEs, youth and women in trade and ultimately establishing an inclusive economic development. CNBC Africa′s Flora Limukii spoke to Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission for more. So that is the relationship and it gives the FCFTA as a program the legal basis and also support the secretariat that implements it and support member states through domestication of all these policies that they come up actually with as a collective. So really FCFTA is part and parcel of the African Union. Let′s talk about the second Guided Trade Initiative. We speak of the millions of MSMEs driving the African economy, but yet there are so many barriers to actually MSMEs thriving in the continent. What is the AU doing on that front in terms of formulating even strategies to make sure that MSMEs thrive in the continent? What AU is doing is what FCFTA secretariat as a branch of the African Union specializing or dedicated to implement the FTA agreement. They are coming up with modalities of facilitating and guiding and handholding the MSMEs actually to uptake. But most importantly, the strategy of value chains is a big strategy because it′s not everyone who will directly trade with a neighboring country or a country afar on the continent. We are talking of value chains are creating an ecosystem, having aggregators, trading companies that can source from those SMEs owned by women, by youth and otherwise, and really go through like create a pipe for those in the downstream to also indirectly reach to the market. So that value chain strategy is one. And we are also putting in place digital platforms that can be accessed in partnership with providers of such services so that you can trade online, supported by payment systems that we are advocating and partnering with the private sector to make interoperable so that you can take your goods, you can order an item from any other country, from Ghana, from Tunisia, where you are sitting in your comfort zone in your home and then you can be able to trade. Those are the things that we are also coming up as strategies to leapfrog the borders that are still not well connected in terms of roads, in terms of railway, in terms of air, line, and all that is not yet developed to the level we wish or to the level of affordability that we would have. But we are pushing to leapfrog while we are also working on the free movement of people. We are still struggling with that, but I'm sure that we'll get there. As you rightly put, we speak of a borderless Africa, free movement of goods, free movement of people. But at the core of all this is the political will to actually drive this Agenda 2063 of the AFCTA. Are we yet there in terms of even coming together in the political landscape and driving this goal as a continent? No, we are there, but in terms of coming together, in terms of envisioning, in terms of making a statement. We have already 54 countries that have signed AFCTA. We have 48 that have ratified, and they are coming on board. Of course, it's a variable geometry. Everyone is not ready at the same time, but the vision is the same, and they are all contributing to the African Union, irrespective whether you are a state party to the AFCTA yet, but it's your contributions that we are using also to support this whole program and AFCTA Secretariat. So they are already supporting this, but it also takes some technicalities. We need to hand-hold them and deal with the different institutions that at the operational level make this dream a reality. So there are the intentions of leaders, but also different layers at operational level have to follow suit. Sometimes they don't come as expeditiously as they should. That's why we keep having forums like this and others to keep engaging and to keep supporting, depending on where you see traction, so that we can eventually all be there. And as you speak of political will, there's the issue of regional. We already have regional trade blocs within ESEA Southern Africa and all that. What's the position of these regional blocs? Should they be disbanded as we look forward to a united AFCTA? No. The strategy of the African Union is actually a structure that is like a triangle. You have member states as a base. Then you have regional blocs in the middle. Then you have the continental. And these layers form what we call the African Union. As we speak today, the regional economic blocs, eight of them, and the regional mechanisms, 12 of them, they are part and parcel of this architecture. We have a coordinating mechanism that is where the African Union Commission and these RECS secretariats will coordinate our work. As we speak as part of the reform of the African Union, we are even talking of division of labor, so that we see how we complement each other, what should be done and dealt with at the continental level, and at the RECS level, and at the national level. So it's part and parcel of one unit, which is Africa. You've been part of this second ESEA Southern Africa conference for three days. What are some of your key takeaways, and do you feel you're moving to the right direction? Yeah, I knew that we were on the right direction, but here I put some concrete point to that broad feeling I had, because we read reports, but seeing people, private sector themselves, speaking to it, seeing the energy of women entrepreneurs talking as how they are really taking this opportunity hands-on, and also listening where they still see challenges and they need us to pay more attention to. So it's really when they start talking in terms of consignments, crossing borders, you feel like this is not just a dream. So that is one of the things that I'm taking here. But I'm also taking from here, the private sector also, they are coming together. They are re-emphasizing the need for collaboration, and, of course, along the value chain, which is a strategy we had on paper, and now I see that the private sectors are confirming that this strategy is the right way to go. Because if you need to take millions of Africans to partake within the FCFDA, you just have to be strategic. You have to be having structures that are going to make it happen. So those insights from the ground, that's really something that I hold dear from this forum.

African Union Commission plays a pivotal role in championing for free movement of people and goods among the member states. The AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative will serve as a gateway to encourage continued trade under the AfCFTA, resulting in increased opportunities for SMEs, youth and women in trade and ultimately establishing an inclusive economic development. CNBC Africa’s Flora Limukii spoke to Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson at the African Union Commission for more. 

Time for Africa to go borderless 

African Union Commission plays a pivotal role in championing for free movement of people and goods among the member states. 

Time for Africa to go borderless

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