AU Must Address Economic Integration and Trade

Anti-poverty campaigners urge African Union Government to address economic integration and trade issues

The Assembly of the Heads of States of the African Union (AU) is taking place in Accra, Ghana, from July 2nd to 3rd to discuss a proposal of an African Union government. Just a few days before the Assembly, 15 African national coalitions from the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) joined other pan-African civil society organisations in Accra to discuss the proposal and provide their input.

Speaking at a GCAP forum on trade and continental integration in Accra this week, GCAP Africa Coordinator Christophe Zoungrana said: “Like most African civil society organisations, we support the acceleration of the political and economic integration of Africa as a genuine way to development, and therefore we welcome the opportunity of a Union Government for raising the bar for human rights, good governance, and the movement of people and goods across the continent. However, we should be extremely cautious in promoting deeper and faster political and economic integration of the continent when African citizens are not informed and most existing African Union policies and Regional Economic Communities are not properly implemented. The road to an African Union Government should be democratic and participatory and run alongside the strengthening of past agreements and regional institutions.”

Today, trade among African countries only accounts for about 11 per cent of their total external trade, the lowest of any world region, and intra-African trade is dominated by a handful of countries selling a handful of products. The challenges of improving such low levels of intra-African trade and increasing benefits for small farmers and poor communities are immense.
“In recent decades, the proliferation of overlapping and inconsistent trade agreements has hindered trade among African countries,” noted Theo Uvanga from GCAP Namibia. “African governments should now look at improving these arrangements to ensure that they lead to increased intra-African trade and pro-poor economic growth.”

GCAP Africa representatives also urge African governments currently negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) not to sign them outside of the AU framework if the objective of economic integration and growth is to be achieved.

Hélène Diouf from GCAP Sénégal commented “African farmers and industries are forced into unfair competition with rich countries, leading to infant industries being destroyed and poor farmers driven off their land. Under these EPAs, the EU is bullying African countries to open up their markets to European imports and threatening the livelihoods of millions of people.”
GCAP is a worldwide alliance of non-government organisations, trade unions and civil society groups working on trade, aid, good governance, human rights and gender equality in the context of poverty alleviation. GCAP has joined other civil society groups monitoring the AU ‘grand debate’ on the continental union to call on African leaders to commit to a people-centred integration where free movement of persons, democratic governance, human rights and fair trade policies are granted the priority they deserve. For more information, go to http://www.whiteband.org.

Media contacts:
In Accra - Christophe Zoungrana, GCAP Africa: +223 274 225 462
In Dakar - Marie-Ange Kalenga, GCAP Africa: + 221 344 26 57

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