Talks Aim at Collaboration on Free Movement of People, Goods and Services Across Africa
The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) and Ethiopian Airlines on Monday held talks at the Headquarters of Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa to explore a strategic collaboration aimed at advancing the Make Africa Borderless Now! agenda.
The campaign seeks to persuade African governments to implement the various economic integration-focused treaties and protocols which they have already adopted but remain slow to implement.
These include the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment Protocol and the Single Africa Air Transport Market Protocol, both adopted in 2018.
The discussions, which build on engagements that began last year, focused on how the two parties can work together to promote the free movement of people, goods, and services across Africa, with air transport recognised as a critical enabler of the continent’s economic integration and a key driver of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
During the meeting, which both sides described as positive, APN invited Africa’s biggest airline to become a major partner in the movement launched in Accra this February to mobilise 10 million signatures calling for, amongst others, free movement across Africa, visa-free travel for Africans across Africa, and implementation of the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol.
Mesfin, Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, expressed strong support for the initiative, stating: “We would like to be part of this initiative.” He acknowledged the role that visa restrictions play in limiting the continent’s potential, adding: “Visa is an obstacle to travel. But the primary reason for visa restrictions across Africa is security — however, security should be ensured in a different way than limiting people from free movement. Because whenever people move, they do so with money for tourism, money for investments, or money to buy goods and services. Although I believe a borderless Africa will not happen overnight, it is possible to accelerate that through this initiative.” He noted that greater freedom of movement would give a major boost to intra-African trade and air cargo volumes across the continent.
Mr Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Executive Chairman and Founder of APN, stressed the need to get African central banks and regulators to enable continent-wide mobile money interoperability, allowing Africans to buy and sell across borders simply using their mobile money wallets.
Addressing the security concerns raised around free movement, Mr Otchere-Darko pointed to existing frameworks as proof of concept: “In the area of security concerns, ECOWAS as a bloc has biometric ECOWAS passports and IDs. So when a citizen of a member state travels to a member country, their details are known. So even if it is visa-free, as long as there is a biometric ID, you can track people. ECOWAS has that, and the long-awaited AU passport can do that too. Rwanda, with its visa-free policy for Africans, has proved that security concerns cannot be an obstacle to the free movement protocol.”
He further underscored the urgency of the movement’s demands: “For now, only four countries have signed up to the Free Movement Protocol, which requires 15 signatories to be ratified. It is not right that people from outside the continent have more access to Africa and African economic opportunities than Africans, with the number of Africans travelling by air to destinations outside the continent being more than Africans travelling within the continent. The Make Africa Borderless Now! campaign is a practical demand by Africans that will allow Africans to take full benefit of our own economic opportunities.”
The engagement reflects the growing momentum behind the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement and the shared commitment to translating Africa’s integration ambitions into practical, continent-wide outcomes. Further meetings are expected to define the scope of the potential collaboration.
About the Make Africa Borderless Now! Movement
The Make Africa Borderless Now! movement is a transformative initiative driving towards the realisation of a unified African market. By advocating for the elimination of barriers to trade, travel, and economic activity, the movement seeks to unlock Africa’s full economic potential and improve the quality of life for all Africans, both on the continent and across the diaspora.
Africa Prosperity Network
The Africa Prosperity Network is a leading Pan-African organisation dedicated to advancing economic integration, sustainable development, and shared prosperity across the African continent. Through strategic initiatives, thought leadership, and collaborative partnerships, the Network works to create an enabling environment for Africa’s economic transformation.