Political economy of regional integration and international trade in africa

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a flagship project of the African Union Agenda 2063. It promises to be the largest free trade area in the world, based on the number of prospective participating countries. According to the World Bank, the implementation of the AfCFTA will significantly facilitate international trade, lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boost the incomes of nearly 68 million others who currently live on less than US$5.50 a day. Further, it may boost Africa’s income by US$450 billion by 2035 (this would be a gain of 7 percent); increase Africa’s exports by $560 billion, mostly in manufacturing; improve larger wage gains for women (10.5 percent) than for men (9.9 percent) and boost wages for both skilled and unskilled workers(10.3 percent for unskilled workers and 9.8 percent for skilled workers). Additionally, the AfCFTA connects 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) valued at US$3.4 trillion. This forecast displays that the AfCFTA is arguably the most powerful instrument that has the potential to significantly alter the politico-economic status of Africa as a whole and place her on the power map of the world. In spite of this laudable and promising opportunity for African growth, the implementation of the AfCFTA has been slow. As of the 5th of August 2021, the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity reported that, out of 36 states that had deposited their instruments of ratification, only Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt had met the customs requirements on infrastructure for trading. This means that only three of the 54 African Union (AU) nations that had signed the pact could trade effectively under the liberalized AfCFTA terms. Since its pre-talks in the 19th Session of the African Union in 2012, its establishment in 2018, and its official trade commencement on January 1st, 2021, one would have expected to see more trade-readiness by African countries. This is particularly important as the current trade among African nations stands at a meagre 18%, while the continents of Europe and Asia enjoy rates of 70% and 51% respectively. It, therefore, becomes imperative to reassess the potential factors that may be stalling the realization of this opportunity. Beyond the overarching goal of the AfCFTA to foster regional integration in Africa as a whole, there exist other strong regional integrations in Africa that have additional instruments which are key to improving trade and enhancing economic growth and welfare. Notably, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as is the case with the other seven recognized regional economic communities (RECs) has faced stringent challenges, such as macroeconomic convergence, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other socio-political constraints. A glaring setback in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been the claws of the French on the Francophone member countries. Since its conception in 2003, leaders of the fifteen ECOWAS states have postponed the launch of a single currency at least four times: in 2005, 2010, 2014, and again in 2020. The 2nd annual conference of the WTO Research Chair of the National University of Lesotho gave room for twenty high grade technical papers, selected from a pool of over seventy-five abstract submissions that interrogated issues in five main panels: Gender and Trade, Economic, Regional Integration, Digital trade and Blochchain Technology, the Socio Political panel, and the Dependable Ecosystem and Environmental Panel. The Conference attracted participants from countries across Africa, both online and physically. The proceedings rigorously addresses these issues and will serve as a good read to enthusiasts of the theme.