Regional Economic Communities

Jacqueline Chimhanzi

Chapter 3 in Africans Investing in Africa, 2015, pp 35-62 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract There is, arguably, no greater topical issue in Africa than that of regional integration — a concept whose time has definitely come but whose operationalisation is still in the making and upon which Africa’s massive unrealised potential lies. Central to the importance of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) is their cross-cutting nature that transcends virtually all economic activity and sectors — from manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and financial services to tourism — underpinned by a very simple rationale — that there is strength in numbers. Given the transformative potential of regional integration, the integration discourse is actually best located in the broader context of development and economic transformation — beyond merely ‘fixing borders’ as an end in itself. Marcelo Giugale, the World Bank’s Africa Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, aptly expressed it as follows: ‘The final prize is clear: … Africans trad[ing] goods and services with each other. Few contributions carry more development power than that’.1

Keywords: Regional Integration; Regional Trade; World Economic Forum; Free Trade Area; Southern African Development Community (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-54280-9_4

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137542809_4

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