Africa's integration: economics should take precedence over politics, experts say

Abstract

In a very engaging plenary session at the eighth African Economic Conference taking place in Johannesburg, experts strongly argued that for regional integration to be effective and beneficial to the people of Africa, economic considerations must be placed above political ones. Held under the theme Regional Integration for Africa’s Transformation: Trans-Boundary Value Chains, Shared Infrastructure and Transformative Development Corridors , the session saw the participation of four panelists whose interventions were coordinated by the Director of the Macroeconomic Policy Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) – Mr Emmanuel Nnadozie. According to Mr Nnadozie, integration via the routes of trans-border value chains, multi-state infrastructure and the development of corridors was obligatory for the continent. “It is no longer a question of debating the merits of integration but to ask how push the integration agenda more rapidly and with more effectively,” he noted.