ASSESSING REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA

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ASSESSING REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN
AFRICA Joseph Atta-Mensah ECA, Addis Ababa
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The importance of Regional Integration in Africa

• Creating a common market for the 53 individual
  African countries should lead to economies of
  scale to make countries competitive
• Wider trading and investment environment
  environment could induce backward and forward
  linkages, and enhance trade in the regional
  markets
• Integration also provides a framework for African
  countries to cooperate developing regional public
  goods and common services

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• Africa has 14 integration groupings/RECs
  varying in size, membership and status of
  progress
• All 14 are contributing to building the
  continental integration edifice in one way or
  another

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The balance sheet of progress in African
integration shows a mixed picture across
sectors, among regional economic communities
(RECs), and indeed among their member
countries.
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A. Trade liberalization

• Some RECs have made significant efforts on
  trade liberalization with a view to creating
  Free Trade Areas and custom Unions

• COMESA launched Free Trade Area in
  October 2000 with 9 countries, 2 more countries
  have since joined.
• UEMOA,SACU, CEMAC alerady are custom unions
• And indeed, UEMOA, and CEMAC are Monetary
  Unions as well

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Trade Flows

• However, trade among countries within the
  RECs remains low, representing about 10 of
  their world trade on the average

• Among the RECs, SADC, ECOWAS,
  CEN- AD,COMESA, were top four performers in
  intra-REC trade as depicted in the graph to
  follow
• We also observe that Intra-REC trade
  benefits are not widely shared. Only a few
  countries dominate export trade within the RECs
  markets

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B. Macro-economic convergence

• Some RECs (and eventually on a regional
  basis) have achieved convergence on such
  parameters as inflation rates, budget deficits,
  external debt and debt service ratios and to some
  extent economic growth rates.

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B. Macro-economic convergence

• In light of these parameters we observe
• UEMOA has the best practice and leading the
  way with a strong monitoring mechanism
• Generally, adherence to the convergence
  parameters has not been easy, but the countries
  are trying aided by economic reform and other
  economic stabilization programs

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C. Infrastructure
On infrastructure, we observe some notable
strides Transport

• A number of achievements have been recorded in
  trans-African highway interconnections
• A major effort has also been made to promote to
  open up the skies in Africa through the
  Yamoussoukro Decision on Air transport
  liberalization

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C. Infrastructure
Energy

• The concept of power pooling is gaining
  momentum inspired by the successful experience
  of the Southern Africa Power Pool pioneered by
  SADC. ECOWAS is currently working on a similar
  power pooling supply and distribution scheme in
  West Africa and west African Gas pipeline.

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C. Infrastructure
Telecommunication

• The Telecommunications sector is picking up
  thanks to the global ICT revolution, whose
  impact is rubbing a bit on Africa, with the
  private sector playing a leading role.

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Institutional challenges

• Many protocols and treaties signed by member
  States are not implemented
• Member States need to demonstrate their
  political commitment for integration at the
  national level through serious measures and
  actions to implement REC and AU decisions

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Institutional challenges

• The African Union and Regional Economic
  Communities must be given supranational powers
  and authority to enforce treaty obligations.
  Implementation cannot depend on good will
  alone.
• The AU and RECs need to establish sound and
  dependable financial resources to enable them to
  carry-out their ambitious programmes and fulfil
  their mandates. RECs need to be rationalized to
  form the building blocs of the AU

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Sectoral challenges

• Trade and market integration
• Targets for completing free trade areas and
  custom unions to be fully met
• Policy convergence
• RECs need to closely monitor criteria
  for macroeconomic convergence, since
  convergence is an important yardstick for
  measuring their preparedness for the
  African Union

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Sectoral challenges

• Transport and communications
• Integration of NEPAD provisions on
  infrastructure in national legislations,
  national priority actions and resource
  allocations
• Full implementation of the air transport
  liberalization programme in Africa (Yamoussoukro
  decision). The deadline for this was supposed to
  be 2000
• Completion of the Trans African Highway
  networks and improvement of facilitation in
  relevant corridors

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Sectoral challenges

• Energy
• Establishment of programmes to improve the
  reliability as well as lower the cost of energy
  supply to productive activities
• Acceleration of power pooling and gas
  pipeline programmes

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Sectoral challenges

• Food and agriculture
• Development of efficient regional markets
  for agricultural products by removing tariff and
  non-tariff barriers
• Promoting the dissemination of
  information on demand and supply

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Sectoral challenges

• Natural resources and production
• Enhancement of competitiveness and
  efficiency of natural resources (water, mining,
  and manufacturing) production as well as the
  contribution of these resources to regional
  integration

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Sectoral challenges

• Free movement of people/labour
• mobility
• Implementation of all programmes on free
  movement of people through relaxation or
  abolition of visa requirements should be
  completed as soon as possible

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Peace and security

• Several political and military conflicts
  with negative effects on governance and regional
  integration
• The AU will be making an invaluable
  contribution to this process if the AU Peace and
  Security can galvanize resources and efforts to
  promote peace and security across the continent
  in collaboration with existing mechanisms
  within RECs

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HIV/AIDS

• RECs not adequately equipped to handle health
  issues
• African Heads of State have outlined an Action
  Plan to combat HIV/AIDS . The Implementation is
  key.

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GENDER

• Some RECs have established
• gender units to promote gender
• equality
• Efforts to be continued to
• mainstream gender in regional
• integration schemes

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Thank you
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