Jaime de Melo

Ever since their independence, African countries have engaged in a series of treaties creating 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs).  These RECs were (and still are) designed to drive integration beginning with a Free Trade Area (FTA) followed by a customs union, a common market, and a monetary union which follows a ‘variable geometry’, allowing different regions to integrate at different speeds along a ‘Minimum Integration Program’.

A new book has been published by IEC’s scientific adviser and Emeritus professor at the University of Geneva, and an advisor at FERDI.  The introduction chapter summarises the key takeaways from the essays collected in the book, Essays on Africa’s Integration: Prospects and Challenges for Markets and Regional Public Goods. The essays, organised in four parts, report on reflections from Dr Jaime de Melo, carried out in ‘real time’ starting around the launch of Vision-2063 “The Africa we want” in 2013, up until the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The structure of the book covers:

Challenges and Pathways. Part I examines Africa’s continued deindustrialisation and the constraints hindering structural transformation: notably, high labour costs relative to income levels and weak non-tradable sectors that prevent the continent from realising its potential in labour-intensive manufacturing.

Architecture Choices. Part II addresses the design trade-offs facing regional integration – between membership size, depth of integration, and differentiated treatment. In the absence of compensation mechanisms, integration often amplifies disparities between diverse economies. Flexibility becomes essential to accommodate overlapping memberships and varied national interests.

Deliverables for the AfCFTA. Part III focuses on the operational challenges of building regional value chains, including divergent exception lists, restrictive rules of origin (ROO) favouring protected sectors, and inefficiencies at borders. Implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement is key to reducing costs and delays.

Nurturing Regional Public Goods (RPGs). Part IV explores the positive agenda of integration: investing in shared infrastructure, institutions, and services that markets alone cannot provide. Through a bottom-up, adaptive approach, the AfCFTA could foster cooperation in critical areas such as energy, transport, natural resources, and health.