The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to create the proper common market with free mobility for people across the 55 African Union nations. Despite being signed by the vast majority of countries back in 2018, implementation has been extremely slow, in my view largely because political elites beholden to domestic business interests lack the ambition to bring it into existence. A functioning intra-African common market would also be complementary to, rather than a substitute for, building export industries that serve high-income countries. Given how high the upside is, I think it is worth investigating whether tractable advocacy approaches could meaningfully increase the probability of effective AfCFTA implementation.
Okay @danielyu & @Arno what about the secondary part of this with the Atlas Of Economic Complexity resources?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to use some of these tools/data to come up with the highest potential impact ventures to support?
Like maybe one could look for what African countries have the highest similarity scores / adjacent capabilities to start building more generics pharmaceutical industries to support the region’s global health goals.
Or what countries may be most able to develop very low-cost meat alternatives / plant-based protein products for better animal welfare?
Like are there opportunities for donors to support both private business in low income countries & other high impact cause areas simultaneously?
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to create the proper common market with free mobility for people across the 55 African Union nations. Despite being signed by the vast majority of countries back in 2018, implementation has been extremely slow, in my view largely because political elites beholden to domestic business interests lack the ambition to bring it into existence. A functioning intra-African common market would also be complementary to, rather than a substitute for, building export industries that serve high-income countries. Given how high the upside is, I think it is worth investigating whether tractable advocacy approaches could meaningfully increase the probability of effective AfCFTA implementation.
Okay @danielyu & @Arno what about the secondary part of this with the Atlas Of Economic Complexity resources?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to use some of these tools/data to come up with the highest potential impact ventures to support?
Like maybe one could look for what African countries have the highest similarity scores / adjacent capabilities to start building more generics pharmaceutical industries to support the region’s global health goals.
Or what countries may be most able to develop very low-cost meat alternatives / plant-based protein products for better animal welfare?
Like are there opportunities for donors to support both private business in low income countries & other high impact cause areas simultaneously?