Electronic commerce in Africa : the African Development Forum '99 post ADF summit

Abstract

This paper reviews the main outcomes of the ADF 99 deliberations around e-commerce, places ecommerce in the international context, identifies potential markets and promising products and teleservices for African entrepreneurs, highlights current constraints to the growth of e-commerce in Africa, suggests ways to overcome such barriers and offers concrete actions to promote and accelerate the growth of all aspects of e-commerce in Africa. The "Pan-African Initiative on e- Commerce," a study which materialized out of ADF'99 and commissioned by the ECA in collaboration with IDRC, is presented here in brief to address the debates during the Forum.The next section summarises those concrete actions in the form of a proposed e-commerce initiative.