Could 2018 Be the Year of Regional Integration?

<div class&equals;"single-article-content cf">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s1">T<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">h<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">e African Union has launched the long-awaited &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Single African Sky” initiative&comma; aimed at opening up the continent’s fragmented airspace&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">It also hopes to ratify and operationalise its ambitious Continental <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;africanbusinessmagazine&period;com&sol;sectors&sol;infrastructure&sol;nigeria-badagry-free-trade-zone-gets-approval&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"external noopener">Free Trade<&sol;a> Area &lpar;CFTA&rpar; initiative in March&comma; and implement it by the end of 2018&period; This would mean unifying its existing regional economic blocs – all eight of them&period; This could create a &dollar;3&period;4 trillion market&comma; with free movement of goods across 54 countries&comma; and the free movement of Africa’s estimated 1&period;2bn people&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">Both initiatives cut to the heart of one of the continent’s biggest constraints on trade and investment – limited regional integration&period; According to the African Development Bank intra-African trade was just 16&percnt; in 2014&period; Comparable figures are 40&percnt; in North America and roughly 60&percnt; in Western Europe&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">The World Bank estimates that intra-African trade costs are around 50&percnt; higher than in East Asia&comma; and are the highest of intra-regional costs in any developing region&period; It is perhaps Africa’s biggest underutilized opportunity&period; Boosting internal trade is seen as a key to addressing core development challenges like infrastructure development and unemployment&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">Limited integration is a constant source of frustration for businesses&comma; both African and global&comma; so the AU’s plans are welcome news&period; But it is way too soon to celebrate&period; The challenge of regional integration has been a major obstacle to development for decades&period; It is a massive logistical and administrative undertaking&comma; one that any regional body – EU&comma; AU or otherwise – would struggle with&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">Also&comma; these ideas are not new&comma; and the record of implementation is not great&period; The predecessor to the Single African Sky initiative is the 1999 Yamoussoukro Decision&comma; which 44 countries signed up to&period; Almost two decades later there has been virtually no impact&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"p2" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">Overambitious timeline&quest;<&sol;span><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p2" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">So far only 23 countries have signed up to Single African Sky&period; The Continental Free Trade Area is already behind schedule&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p2" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">First announced in 2012 it was supposed to be implemented by the end of 2017&period; Given the size of the task&comma; and the limited level of integration across the continent today&comma; an end of 2018 timeline sounds more than a little ambitious&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">But this does not mean there is no progress&period; Trade numbers are rising&comma; albeit slowly&comma; and there is important investment going into building new ports&comma; railways – mostly from China – and other key infrastructure projects like power across the continent&period; Some of the projects are on a regional level&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p3" style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><span class&equals;"s2">In addition President Paul Kagame of <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;africanbusinessmagazine&period;com&sol;region&sol;east-africa&sol;rwanda-reaps-fruits-economic-reform&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"external noopener">Rwanda<&sol;a> is heading up a team of hand-picked experts to reform the <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;africanbusinessmagazine&period;com&sol;region&sol;continental&sol;mahamat-elected-chair-african-union&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"external noopener">African Union<&sol;a> into an institution better suited to helping Africa tackle its development challenges&comma; including regional integration&period; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">They have their work cut out for them&comma; but the potential prize is well worth the effort&period; We will have to wait and see&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Source&colon; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;africanbusinessmagazine&period;com&sol;">African Business Magazine<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;