Making Regional Trade Work for Africa: Turning Words into Deeds

A well-known characteristic of the regional integration process in Africa is the multiplicity of regional trade agreements (RTAs). There is recognition by African leaders that RTAs have enormous potential to foster regional trade and development in the region.

However, the low rate of their implementation has left this potential largely locked up. To realize this potential, national Governments, development partners and regional institutions need to boldly and creatively tackle the drawbacks to effective implementation of RTAs.

This policy brief identifies some of the main barriers to implementation and proposes remedies for them.