News

Africa’s new trend of green regionalism

Thursday, 02 July 2026 11:05

A new shift is emerging in African regional integration: and it is changing how we think about trade, climate, and development at the same time. From infrastructure corridors to climate-aligned trade strategies, African regionalism is no longer just about lowering tariffs or building roads. It is also about how regions integrate while transitioning to low-carbon and sustainable development pathways. This is what some scholars are now calling “green regionalism”. Read the article on the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) "Africa at LSE" blog.

Regional Value Chains Are Not a Substitute for Global Value Chains: Strategies for African Industrialization

Wednesday, 01 July 2026 10:20

For decades, African industrialisation strategies have focused on what to produce. Perhaps the more important question is who coordinates production, finance, logistics, market intelligence, and market access across the different scales of the continental economy? Japan found one answer in its sogo shosha (general trading companies). These firms are system integrators, connecting manufacturers, financiers, shipping companies, governments, and foreign buyers into a coherent commercial ecosystem. Their role is also to create complementarity between national, regional, and global value chains, allowing firms of different sizes and capabilities to participate in increasingly sophisticated production and trade networks. Could Africa develop its own version? This paper explores how the sogo shosha model could inspire a new generation of African trading companies capable of strengthening the AfCFTA, accelerating industrialisation, and transforming fragmented markets into an integrated continental trade system. Sometimes the most valuable innovation is not a new product or service. It is a new way of organising trade.

Read the paper on the international journal of Technology, Health and Sustainability.

How Regional Integration Is Actually Unfolding In Africa: The Pragmatics Of Integration And The Ethiopia–Djibouti Case

Sunday, 28 June 2026 05:23

The evolution of relations between Ethiopia and Djibouti challenges one of the most persistent assumptions in African regional integration: that integration proceeds through a linear sequence of institutional stages designed and managed from above by regional organizations. Classical integration theory imagines a gradual progression from free trade areas to customs unions, common markets, and ultimately political union. Yet the African experience increasingly reveals a different reality. Regional integration advances as governments address concrete operational challenges and respond to growing functional interdependencies, rather than through ideological convergence toward predetermined models of integration. In this perspective, integration is not imposed from above according to a predefined institutional blueprint. Instead, it emerges through adaptive interactions and incremental institutional adjustments driven by practical needs such as developing transport corridors, incresing connectivity, encoraging cross-border economic activity, or securing reliable access to the sea, as illustrated by the Ethiopia–Djibouti case.

Read the full article on Eurasia Review.

How the Global South anticipated the rules of trade in times of uncertainty

Friday, 19 June 2026 17:50

For decades, the Global South was judged against a model of stability it never enjoyed. Today, as uncertainty becomes the norm rather than the exception, its experience reveals a different lesson: trade success depends not only on efficiency under equilibrium, but on the capacity to adapt under permanent change. For the first time, Northern economies may have as much to learn from the South as the South once had to learn from them. The concept of "trade system plasticity" offers a powerful lens through which to understand this shift. On Latinoamérica21.

Key Findings from UNCTAD's Status and Outlook for National Trade Facilitation Committees 2025

Monday, 15 June 2026 04:29

The UNCTAD report Status and Outlook for National Trade Facilitation Committees 2025 provides a comprehensive assessment of the role, performance, challenges, and future prospects of National Trade Facilitation Committees (NTFCs) based on a comparative analysis of these Committees in 68 countries worldwide. The report highlights the increasingly important role they play in making cross-border trade faster, less costly, more predictable, and more resilient. NTFCs have become the principal platform for coordination between government agencies and the private sector in the design and implementation of trade facilitation reforms. At the same time, the report raises concerns about the gap between reported and actual implementation. One of its most striking findings is that progress is frequently overstated: a comparison of WTO notifications and detailed national assessments found that 89% of reported data did not accurately reflect realities on the ground, with most countries having implemented fewer measures than those officially reported.