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ECA Press Release No. 16/2004 ECA LAUNCHES REPORT ASSESSING REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA Addis Ababa, 14 July 2004 (ECA) -- The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today launched a groundbreaking publication on regional integration in Africa. The report, called Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA), provides a comprehensive evaluation of the state of Africa's integration process, showing where efforts have succeeded or failed including why intra African trade remains low; and how lack of macro-economic policy convergence and insufficient infrastructures hamper integration. A striking example is the transport sector, where shipping a car from Japan to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, costs $1,500; while shipping that same car from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Abidjan would cost up to $5,000. The report also articulates how Regional Economic Communities (RECs) can be strengthened to play their role as building blocs of the new African Union (AU). The report finds that although progress has been made in a number of areas, overall, this has been limited relative to the goals established by African leaders. The report makes several recommendations on accelerating the integration process. Some of the key recommendations include the need for the AU and RECs to be endowed with greater financial and human capital; and be granted relevant supranational authority to enable them to enforce treaty obligations. The recommendations cover both institutional arrangements and sectoral policy issues. The
ARIA publication is divided into two parts. Part I fleshes out the imperative
of integration as a strategy to engender transformation and growth payoffs
for Africa, advancing both economic and political supporting arguments.
It raises some of the critical institutional challenges facing the process
and highlights priorities for urgent action so that the new African Union
can live to its expectation of accelerating Africa's integration. Among
the priorities is the imperative to strengthen and empower the RECs as
the nerve centres for the AU. Integration of markets, infrastructure and
institutions will also require efficient regional and sub-regional market-supporting
standards, policies, rules, and regulations. ARIA is the first of periodic reports that ECA intends to produce on regional integration in Africa. In this regard, the second edition of ARIA is expected to come out by the second half of 2005. (END) For more information on ARIA, or to interview members of the ARIA team, please contact Bénédicte Walter, tel.: +251-1 44 52 40, mobile: +251-9 63 66 23, E-mail: bwalter@uneca.org Visit the ARIA website at www.uneca.org/aria for the full report in pdf format, and media kits that contain audiovisual material available for rebroadcast.
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