Infrastructure development has, in recent years, shifted from being primarily an area of cooperation to becoming a central arena of geopolitical competition. Major global powers are advancing large-scale initiatives that blend investment with diplomacy. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the EU's Global Gateway exemplify this trend, alongside the U.S. Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and Japan's Quality Infrastructure Initiative (QII). All these frameworks are more than financing tools: they are instruments of infrastructure diplomacy designed to advance strategic interests and project influence in Africa.

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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has been widely heralded as a flagship initiative of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, designed to expand intra-African trade, drive industrialisation, and stimulate economic growth through market integration. A recent critique published by Bilaterals, however, casts doubt on the agreement’s ability to achieve these ambitions. The article argues that, although the AfCFTA originates from good (African) intentions, its negotiation, financing, and operational structures have been shaped to a considerable extent by external actors, including major foreign economic blocs and multilateral organisations. The technical support provided by these actors is depicted as a disguised effort to advance their own economic and geopolitical interests at the expense of Africa’s industrial development. Moreover, conditional funding and the promotion of regulatory norms aligned with Global North standards, it claims, risk perpetuating dependency and entrenching Africa’s subordinate role in the global economy.

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