Regional Integration

Africa’s economic and political geography, with its many small and often landlocked economies, presents many challenges to the continent’s development and to poverty reduction.

To overcome these challenges, greater regional integration and the development of regional infrastructure networks are absolutely vital. Regional integration is also essential to reducing Africa’s high infrastructure costs.

Facilitating infrastructure development at a regional level runs through much of the ICA’s work and is a key theme of its activity. In addition, the ICA works to overcome both technical and political challenges to regional infrastructure development programmes and strives to improve understanding of Africa’s infrastructure development needs through the provision of better information.

Examples of some of the ICA’s work in this vital area are: 

• The publication of the ICA’s annual flagship report, Infrastructure Financing Trends in Africa which monitors resource flows to regional infrastructure development.
• The commissioning and publication, in partnership with the AfDB, of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) Financial Structuring Plan, which highlights the importance of regional infrastructure for Africa's growth.
• The commissioning and publication of a study assessing the current and past contributions of African Sub-Regional Development Banks (SRDBs) to infrastructure development in Africa; the study makes a number of recommendations, including their role in supporting regional development and integration.
• The updating of the One-Stop Border Posts Sourcebook, to include current best practice and lessons learned since the first edition was published in 2011.
• Setting up the Project Preparation Facilities Network (PPFN): comprising 14 PPFs, in order to facilitate coordination of project preparation, including opportunities for co-financing the preparation of large regional projects.
• Active support for the development of regional power projects, through the organisation of meetings and training for regional Power Pools.

Furthermore, in an endeavour to increase coordination to scale-up investments for regional infrastructure, the ICA’s annual meeting has a focus on regional infrastructure projects.