Introduction to Regional Integration in Africa

Regional integration remains the key strategy that will enable African governments to accelerate
the transformation of their fragmented small economies, expand their markets, widen the region’s
economic space, and reap the benefits of economies of scale for production and trade, thereby
maximizing the welfare of their nations. Regional integration increases competition in global trade
and improves access to foreign technology, investment, and ideas. African leaders thus consider it
an important path to broad-based development and a continental economic community, in
accordance with the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (1991) and the
Constitutive Act of the African Union (2000).

From the dawn of the independence era, virtually all African countries have embraced regionalism.
Today, there are more regional organisations in Africa than in any other continent and most African
countries are members of more than one regional integration initiative. At the same time, it is widely
recognised that many initiatives did not live up to expectations. Why did these initiatives only produce
limited results so far? Were the challenges and constraints simply too formidable? The underlying
reasons for the disappointing record need to be thoroughly examined and understood if African
integration initiatives are to realise their potential.

The commitment to regionalism was part and parcel of the broader aspiration of continental integration,
a vision that led to the creation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The recent
transformation of the OAU into the African Union (AU) has significantly strengthened the movement
towards the goal of Pan-African political and economic union. However, the new setup at the continental
level leads to the question of how the regional and sub-regional initiatives and the AU can become
mutually reinforcing.

In addition to the regional initiatives within Africa there have been proposals and actual negotiations
aimed at establishing North-South integration arrangements between Africa and developed countries or
regions. These include the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) presently being negotiated
between four groups of African countries and the European Union (EU). At the global level, almost all
African countries became members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) or applied for membership.
As a result, regional initiatives must adhere to the rules of the multilateral trading system, which, among
other things, are important for the North-South trade arrangements. Another relevant point is the extent
to which regional initiatives could help the African countries participate more effectively and take fuller
advantage of the global economy.

The Status of Regional Integration in Africa

The question of Africa’s regional integration has preoccupied many African leaders since the early
years of independence. Many have viewed it as a tool for promoting economic growth and
sustainable development and improving the living standards of the African people. The overall
strategic objective of regrouping African countries was to fight the impact of colonialism and build a
united Africa.
It is indisputable that Africa’s development will be achieved through the unity of its people. African
leaders’ quest for unity clearly demonstrates their commitment, which gave impetus to the
formation of Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. The African Union Commission (AUC),
the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the
Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are among the key players of regional integration.

The formation of the OAU, now the African Union (AU) was the first step towards promoting
continental unity. Since its inception, significant new efforts have been put in place. Nevertheless,
Africa has comparatively few success stories to tell with respect to regional integration. The
continent’s slow pace towards this goal has been largely attributed to Africa’s many extraordinary
challenges, including inadequate financial resources, macro-economic instability, poor governance,
conflicts and war, the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, and numerous sub-groupings. In addition,
African member States’ multiple memberships to different RECs have contributed significantly to
the slow pace of Africa’s integration.

Recognizing the importance of regional integration to developing a strong, united Africa, the
continent’s leaders have established a number of initiatives, the most notable of which include the
following:
• The formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963;
• The 1980 Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa;
• The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights drafted in 1981;
Africa’s
• Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (APPER) in 1985, to address the emerging crisis of
the 1980s;
• The Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (EAC), known as the Abuja Treaty, in
1991;
• The Sirte Declaration of 1999;
• The 2000 Solemn Declaration on security, stability, development and cooperation of the African
continent;
• The AU programme, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) in 2000; and
• The AU Constitutive Act of 2001.

In 2009, the AUC, in collaboration with the RECs, took steps to elaborate a Minimum Integration
Programme (MIP). This followed decisions taken by various AU Conferences of African Ministers in
Charge Integration (COMAIs), which identified the urgent need to rationalize and harmonize REC
activities and programmes, if the AEC were to become realized as it was conceived in the Abuja
Treaty and the AU Constitutive Act.

The various AU COMAIs recommended the following:

• The AUC, in collaboration with the UNECA, AfDB and the RECs, should review the stages of the
Abuja Treaty, taking into account the recent AU decisions, including the Sirte Declaration;
• The MIP should be adopted and implemented as a dynamic strategic and continental framework
for the integration process;
• The AUC should elaborate the MIP for RECs, bearing in mind that they implement their activities
and programmes independently;
• The AUC should coordinate REC activities and harmonize their policies and programmes, as
recommended in the AU decision taken in The Gambia1; and
• The free movement of persons, goods, capital and services among and across all RECs should be
encouraged and promoted to accelerate continental integration.

In implementing these recommendations, the AUC undertook a study, “Rationalization of the

Regional Economic Communities (RECs): Review of the Abuja Treaty and Adoption of the Minimum
Integration Programme,” which was completed in April 2007. Since then the AUC has been
consulting with the RECs and other stake holders, exchanging views on how to elaborate MIPs for
RECs to advance Africa’s integration.

The results of the study were presented to the Second Conference of Ministers in Charge of
Integration in Rwanda, in July 2007. A more recent study, on the quantification of scenarios for the
rationalization of RECs in terms of advantages and costs, is in its final stages, and is to be presented
during the Fifth Conference of Ministers in Charge of Integration to be held in Tripoli, Libya in early
May 2010.

Despite such significant progress, many challenges persist, including the matter of inadequate
financial resources. Pan-African institutions such as the AUC and the RECs continue to depend
heavily on contributions from their member States to implement integration activities and
programmes. However, these resources have turned out to be insufficient.

During the last decade, several authors have explored the subject of regional economic integration
and have concluded that global economic integration is the key to promoting resource allocation,
technology transfer and enhancing the standard of living. Some studies have further concluded that
economic integration has led to trade imbalances, increased financial market volatility and fostered
less-effective macroeconomic policies. However, there is no consensus on this, and researchers
have yet to reach definitive conclusions. But most papers do agree that national borders present
considerably greater impediments to regional integration than had previously been imagined.

Some papers have been written on the issues and challenges of economic integration. For instance,
according to economist Michael Mussa, the former Director of Research at the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), three fundamental factors affect the process of economic integration,
namely, technology, preferences and public policy. Increased technology has bolstered economic
integration by lowering the cost of transporting goods and also has reduced the cost of
communicating economically useful knowledge. By contrast, public policies have at times promoted
economic integration while at the same time inhibiting globalization. Although these three factors
have important independent influence on the pace and progress of economic integration, they
clearly interact with one another.
Regional integration accomplishes common objectives that encourage economic transformation in
the following areas:3 trade, customs union, common markets economic union, to mention but a few.
This chapter addresses progress in intra-African trade; the free movement of persons, goods and
services; macroeconomic policy convergence; physical integration (transportation, energy, water,
communications); sectoral integration (including agriculture); and larger cross-cutting issues such
as the private sector, peace and security and gender).