ual Report on Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA-2001)
ed Integration
Contents
A. Context 1
B. Why ARIA? 2
C. Structure of ARIA 3
D. Partnership for ARIA 4
E. Rallying message 6
UAL REPORT ON REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA (ARIA-2001):
PARTNERSHIP FOR ACCELERATED INTEGRATION
A. Context
African countries, through declared visions, including the latest on the establishment of an African Union, have come to an unequivocal realisation that the future of their economic transformation lies in strengthened regional co-operation and integration. In this context, they recognise that the success of their national development goals is inextricably linked to, and dependent on, this strategy. To this end, they rightly believe that it is imperative to establish production, trade, transport, communication and cultural links, and create markets and economies that transcend their traditional political boundaries. Short of this, the achievement of self-sustaining national economic growth and development will continue to be an elusive goal for the large majority of the African countries.
Several economic communities (RECs), organised along sub-regional lines, have been established to this effect, some of which since the pre-independence era. However, progress has to date been generally perceived and acknowledged to be particularly slow among many of them including major economic groupings. A number of factors are recognised to have contributed significantly to the slow pace of progress. These include inadequate internalisation of integration goals in national development agendas; lack of harmonisation of policies among members of the group;
limited inter-industry co-operation; limited range of technology; inadequate investments in infrastructure; and paucity of financial resources and relevant manpower capacities. Other constraints relate to the multiplicity of groupings and overlapping membership and objectives, which puts enormous strains on member States' ability and resources to cope with the demands of all of them.
Limited resources are thus spread thinly among several groupings.
Progress does not seem to have run apace with the time and other resource expenditure and the political rhetoric behind the integration process in Africa. This has caused a considerable degree of anxiety and concern in various echelons of African economic policy-making institutions and led governments to reaffirm their determination to increase the tempo of progress towards integration in Africa.
The need for faster results has become even more urgent than before because of rapidly evolving developments in the global scene, largely induced by globalisation and liberalisation of world trade. When developed countries such as those of the European Union even see a virtue in consolidating their single internal market and adopting a single currency, it will be difficult to comprehend why developing African countries should be lagging so long behind in integrating their fragile individual economies.
The recent political declaration by the African Heads of State and Government to establish an African Union underscores the realisation that action on Africa's integration process should speak louder than words. New initiatives by Nigeria and Ghana to enhance the tempo of integration within the Economic Community of West African States, through a faster track movement on free trade and monetary union, are another laudable step in this direction. The governments and their relevant integration institutions thus recognise the imperative to engineer more than symbolic actions to achieve rapid progress on Africa's integration process. They acknowledge the risk of wasting more time than the decades of experimentation with integration in Africa, while the tidal wave of globalisation and liberalisation ofworld trade gathers momentum.
B. Why ARIA?
Pivotal to the African governments' determination to take new and bold initiatives for accelerating their integration agenda is the need for them to have a lucid, objective and informed knowledge about if and how well prior goals have been attained through a systematic evaluation and appraisal of that agenda. Indeed prior to making any far-reaching changes to the integration process, it is indispensable to measure accomplishments against the original objectives in order to reveal the actual reasons or causes for any significant deviations.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has observed that at present there has been no attempt to thoroughly research and articulate the status of Africa's integration process in a way that provides a clear message to guide policy and operational adjustments to the process by governments and institutions concerned. Many papers have been written, and countless meetings and conferences have taken place, on the subject of Africa's integration, which have produced an inestimable number of recommendations and resolutions. However, in terms of a holistic assessment on a systematic basis, nothing has been done to ascertain whether, taken together, the integration effort at all levels, i.e. national, sub-regional and continental, is moving towards its established objectives and, if not, what redirections or new directions of approach would need to be recommended or made in order to ensure that the objectives will be fulfilled.
The ECA estimates that the utilisation of the findings of such an exercise can only
contribute to increased effectiveness and efficiency in the way operations are being carried out in regard to Africa's integration. The information generated from this innovative project can be
immensely helpful to governments, the regional economic communities, the OAU/AEC, the private sector, NGOs, Africa's development partners, and other relevant entities for making necessary modifications in their performance, programmes and strategies. It will help them to clearly see whether or not their efforts have been sufficient to match the requirements for achieving theintegration objectives. It will also enable them to ascertain where efforts have been fruitful or have
failed, and the underlying causes of success or failure, besides articulating and improving the knowledge base of Africa's integration agenda.Ultimately, a comprehensive picture will emerge to elucidate the often murky and confused situation as to where Africa stands on integration. The wealth of information and lessons to emerge from the exercise can, thus, be very instrumental in shaping the future course of the integration process, while providing enormous benefits for various end-users including academicians.
It is in this perspective that ECA has planned to prepare an annual Report on Integration in Africa (ARIA). The ARIA is intended to be an authoritative yearly report on the status of integration in Africa. In addition, it is intended to be a tool for strategic focus and anchorage for Africa's development agenda. The first publication planned for the year 2001 is a critical one, and as a maiden issue, it holds the promise of bringing in new information that can stimulate and encourage much faster progress on Africa's integration.
C- Structure of ARIA
ARIA will provide an incisive overview of the entire spectrum of integration experience in Africa, taking into consideration the impact of global pressures induced by globalisation and world trade liberalisation in the context of the WTO. A vital and an integral part of this overview will be an appraisal and analysis of performance of all the actors involved in the process at the national, sub- regional and regional levels, based on precisely defined indicators of achievement of the established goals and objectives. In light of this general thrust, the structure of ARIA-2001 will consist of the
following parts:
3
PART I will provide an analytical background to the overall pursuit of the goal of integration
in Africa in terms of the rationale behind it, the objectives involved, the institutions and capacities
propelling it, and the salient constraints and challenges facing it, domestically as well as globally.PART H is the crux of ARIA and one which will likely conjure a great deal of curious expectations among various stakeholders including governments, institutions, development partners,
donors, and Africa's integration watchers in general This part is intended to convey the findings of a
thorough, objective and intellectually defensible appraisal of the status and performance of integrationin Africa at the national, sub-regional and regional levels based on robust performance indicators. The indicators will be based on the actual goals and objectives as established by the various integration
groupings or regional economic communities. These will include the goals agreed upon at the Africa-wide level as embodied in the Abuja Treaty and subsequent political declarations altering or reaffirming them. If ARIA can be perceived as a credible and a scrupulous exercise, then this part will have to portray an accurate assessment based on facts rather than speculative or intuitive judgement.
PART HI, drawing on the findings of the preceding part, will provide lessons and action- oriented recommendations that will help address problem areas, guide policy formulation and help
sharpen the focus for action for the consolidation of Africa's integration. In light of this, possible adjustments to current objectives and strategies and the manner of implementation of the various
integration arrangements are likely to emerge.D. Partnership for ARIA
As can be gleaned from the above-mentioned synopsis, ARIA is designed to make a significant contribution to promoting the successful and accelerated implementation of Africa's integration process through the findings and results it will generate to help shape future courses of action. ARIA should, therefore, be of vital interest to all interested in, or devoted to, promoting integration in Africa, notably member States, the Regional Economic Communities as primary stakeholders, the private sector, NGOs, Africa's development partners and a host of other players and users in the academic circles as well as the media.
The ARIA scheme was very enthusiastically supported by the ECA Ministerial Follow-Up Committee which was held in Abuja, Nigeria, in May 2000. ARIA was viewed as an exercise that lends itself to a joint and collaborative effort involving all the stakeholders. To the extent that there is a common interest among them in seeing Africa succeed in its integration efforts, it is arguably a rational view to take that involving all stakeholders as partners in the implementation of ARIA can help build a broad consensus on its findings and support for future actions. It can also facilitate effective follow-up on ARIA's recommendations at various levels, through new approaches some of which can involve a rethinking of current support mechanisms by development partners and bilateral and multilateral funding agencies.
A solid partnership for ARIA is already gradually emerging which is likely to take different forms, including desirable financial sponsorship. ECA will continue to promote and build a partnership spirit for the ARIA process amongst the wide array of stakeholders and entities having keen interest in Africa's integration process, including multilateral, regional and bilateral organisations.
In this regard, it is significant to point out that the European Union (EU) has expressed keen interest in, and agreed to provide financial support to the tune of Euro 500,000 for the implementation ofARIA-2001. In fact, the EU's financial support represents about half of the financial budget required to carry out ARIA-2001.
The design of ARIA, as an undertaking in partnership, is also manifested in the proposed establishment of a Steering Committee composed of representatives from the three African continental organisations (namely ECA, OAU and the ADB) and other partners/ sponsors such as the EU, the World Bank, the Global Coalition for Africa, the African Economic Research Consortium (representing African Research Institutions) and eminent scholars in the field of integration.
Consultations with these partners to enlist their support have either taken place or are envisaged. The Steering Committee will serve as a technical body to advise on the scholastic content and rigor of ARIA and oversee its successful implementation.
It is also worth mentioning that as the only development finance institution of its kind in Africa, the African Development Bank (ADB) has a major role to play commensurate with its renewed emphasis on the promotion of Africa's regional integration as one of its strategic
areas of support. High-level consultations between ECA and the ADB have already taken place to explore possible financial and material support to the implementation of ARIA, in addition to its membership of the Steering Committee.
African member States and governments are the principal beneficiaries of, and stakeholders in, all efforts to accelerate the process of Africa's integration at both the sub-regional and continental level. As such, they have a fundamental role to play as partners with ECA and other collaborators in implementing ARIA and as catalysts for mobilising support for it. In this context, they can either provide financial support or assistance in kind. Such gesture can serve to motivate or kindle interest by other development partners and donors because experience has shown that where member States and governments are seen or perceived to be politically and materially committed to their own development agendas and related actions, they inspire support from others. For this reason, ECA will welcome and highly value every support that can be mustered by African member States and governments for ARIA to materialise.
Lastly, it is important to point out that ARIA will be immensely driven by credible and reliable data. To this end, current and potential partners (member States, the Regional Economic Communities, members of the proposed Steering Committee, Research Institutions, development partners, etc.) will be making an invaluable contribution to the exercise as sources ofrelevant information.
E. Rallying message
ARIA is a vital vehicle for a comprehensive appraisal of the status of integration in Africa and the generation of a reliable and current knowledge base on Africa's integration. ARIA also promises to be a rallying platform for shared perspectives on Africa's integration and an active collaborative engagement in accelerating the process. As such, it should inspire broad interest and support from all relevant stakeholders.
ECA is encouraged by initial indications of support from a number of partners, both within Africa and amongst the donor community. The significant contribution by the EU is illustrative of the potential for generating profound partnership support for ARIA.
ARIA will benefit African countries immensely in terms of enabling the governments to regularly assess progress towards set integration goals. Such review could be a regular item at the summits of Heads of State and Government. The active inclusion of African countries in the partnership constituency for ARIA is, therefore, fundamental to its success and sustainability.
