Assessing Regional Integration in Africa VI : Harmonizing Policies to Transform the Trading Environment

Abstract

African countries continue to pursue programmes and activities aimed at accelerating regional integration and cooperation arrangements on the continent. Regional integration has been part of the major agendas of African leaders in line with the objectives of the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community. Regional integration in Africa therefore continues to hold a central place in the continent’s endeavours to achieve economic transformation and attain sustainable socioeconomic development. Africa has put in place functional regional economic communities (RECs) as building blocks for establishing the African Economic Community. The publication's overall objective is to provide analytical research that defines frameworks for African governments, the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities, towards accelerating the establishment of the African Common Market through: the speedy removal of all tariff and non-tariff barriers, obstacles to free movement of people, investments and factors of production in general across Africa, and through fast-tracking the creation of an African continental Free Trade Area.