BY EPHREM ANDARGACHEW
In May 2003, Africa celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). On that occasion, Africa’s political leadership took stock of past accomplishments and challenges, and through the 50th Anniversary, Solemn Declaration rededicated itself to the continent’s socioeconomic and political transformation.
In this regard, the Assembly requested the elaboration of a forward-looking 50-year continental framework, namely Agenda 2063, founded on the AU vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena”. Agenda 2063 is a shared strategic framework for inclusive growth and sustainable development that was developed through a people-driven process and was adopted, in January of 2015, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the 24th African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
As the motto indicated, it is imperative to integrate Africa through various mechanisms especially, “the African Continental Free Trade Area”. The African Continental Free Trade Area is an ambitious trade pact to form the world’s largest free trade area by connecting almost 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries. The agreement targets creating a single market for goods and services in order to deepen the economic integration of Africa.
Because economic integration is a very important concept to the continent. It is also key not only for the political well-being of their political prosperity but also to improve the lives of the needy since an integrated continent, politically united, based on the ideals of Pan Africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance is key to development and prosperity. Besides, it helps to achieve Agenda 2063.
Basically, Agenda 2063 is not the first time that Africa seeks to mobilize joint, and collective action for continental development. In response to the loss of growth momentum in the late 1970s, for example, African leaders came up with their own economic blueprint that was known as the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa 1980- 2000 (LPA) which was crafted by Africans working through two major institutions, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Secretariat of the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) As the Lagos Plan of Action, Agenda 2063 articulates the goals of collective self-
self-reliance, emphasizing among others the development of domestic markets in Africa rather than reliance on external markets, the control of natural resources by states, the role, and importance of domestic factor inputs in development, the imperative of self-sufficiency in food production, the development of human capital and the provision of social infrastructure for the African people. Clearly, by concentrating on sectoral programs, such as the Lagos Plan of Action, Agenda 2063 envisages the structural transformation of African economies.
In Kasaija, P. A. (2013) academic article entitled: “The African Union (AU), the Libya Crisis and the notion of African solutions to African problems” stated that the whole idea behind the maxim of “African solutions to African problems” is the quest for home-grown approaches to various Africa-centered problems. It involves the articulation of development initiatives through consultative and participatory approaches involving African stakeholders.
This is a clear fact that the spirit of the “African solutions” is embedded in the Agenda 2063 document and its emphasis is the deployment of Africa’s enormous resources to achieve both its transformation and the actualization of the development aspirations of its peoples.
Taking the prominent role of the African Continental Free Trade Area and economic integration especially, into consideration, the AU recognizes eight RECs across the content: the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community of Sahel– Saharan States (CEN–SAD), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The AU, by using the potential of these economic communities, aspires to ensure economic growth and development. Hence, Ethiopia, following the rapprochement that has taken place in mid-2018, has ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area accord. According to President Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is significant in revitalizing Pan-Africanism so as to ensure sustainable peace and development.
It is projected to boost economic development bringing 55 African economies together to form the worlds’ largest trading bloc when fully operationalizing the AfCFTA that accounts for USD 3.4 trillion, she added.
In 21,2019 the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) of Ethiopia ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. So far, 52 out of 55 African countries have reportedly signed the agreement and 20 of these, including Ethiopia, have ratified the agreement.
The African Continental Free Trade Area is expected to create a 1 billion people market, to enhance continental trade competition, promote job opportunities, improve productivity and expand continental trade destinations.
The article of David Harary (2018) entitled “African Free Trade Could Increase Resilience to Climate Change and Conflict” stated that for decades, African leaders have looked outside the continent for trading partners. While intra-Asian and intra-European exports accounted for 59 percent and 69 percent of their respective total exports in 2016, intra-African exports made up only 18 percent of total exports. Heavy reliance on external markets makes the African continent vulnerable to the whims of faraway leaders. This is especially true for the most basic necessities, such as food.
The free trade area’s goal is to develop and promote regional and continental value-chains which can help the agricultural, water, and energy industries transfer infrastructure, technology, and financial tools across boundaries to build resilience to withstand climate change. Programs that help farmers avoid losing their crops and livestock, conduct precision agriculture, and offer microcredit could be especially useful in securing access to food and water.
Moreover, the long-term sustainability, development, and security of African countries can be bolstered through industrial collaboration, partnerships, and trade. The creation of the AfCFTA is therefore, a landmark first step towards achieving this goal, he elucidated.
Former Djibouti Ambassador to Ethiopia Mohamed Idriss Farah once told the Ethiopian Herald that the Ethio-Djibouti economic integration is unique from any other African country in both degree and intensity. The African Continental Free Trade Area could be also another major factor to further cement the two countries’ interstate relations. Nevertheless, there is still a lot more to do not only between the two countries but also across the continent.
In actual fact, the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA) aims to bring continent-wide free trade to 1.3 billion people in a 3.4 trillion US dollars’ economic bloc nevertheless, Africa and Africans have been challenged by various issues to fully apply the agreement. Among others conflict, instability and insecurity, social and economic inequalities, failure to harness the demographic dividend, and escalation of Africa’s disease burden, more importantly, climate risks and natural disasters are worth mentioning.
Poor road and rail links, and excessive border bureaucracy will not disappear overnight. Furthermore, sub-Saharan Africa has been characterized by weak growth performance and a high and persistent dependence on natural resources. Yet, all the challenges can be overcome if all the stakeholders work diligently together. It is, therefore, time to alleviate climate change problems so as to fully implement the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement to fully utilize Agenda 2063 objectives
The Ethiopian Herald February 2/2022
