African States Building Regional Systems that Embody Shared Vision of Integrated Continent: ECA Executive Secretary

Addis Ababa, November 18, 2025 (ENA) - The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) member states are implementing reforms and building regional systems that embody a shared vision of a resilient, integrated, and forward-looking Africa, the Executive Secretary Claver Gatete said today. 

The ECA has convened the 4th Session of the Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional Integration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology (CPRTIIT-4) at its headquarters in Addis Ababa under the theme “Leveraging frontier technologies and innovation to advance regional integration for sustainable and inclusive growth”.

Opening the two-day session, Gatete said ECA “member States are already deploying frontier technologies, implementing reforms and building regional systems that embody our shared vision of a resilient, integrated and forward-looking Africa.”

According to him, innovation is accelerating integration, and Africa’s instant payment systems have grown by nearly 40 percent between 2019 and 2023, reducing transaction costs and bringing our markets closer together.

 

This mutually reinforcing relationship–integration fueling innovation and innovation accelerating integration is the opportunity before us, he added.

The Executive Secretary stated that the session will demonstrate, from regional value chains to frontier tools, from energy systems to transport networks, the issues before us constitute the practical foundations of Africa’s future competitiveness.

He further elaborated that global developments are being shaped by rapid technological shifts, rising geopolitical tensions, tightening financial conditions, and the intensifying impacts of climate change.

These converging forces are reconfiguring the global economic terrain, often deepening vulnerabilities and widening inequalities as Africa finds itself squarely at the center of this transformation.

But Africa also possesses assets that few regions can match, Gatete said, adding that it has the world’s youngest population, abundant renewable energy potential, rapidly expanding digital ecosystems and, critically, a continental market of 1.4 billion people under the AfCFTA.

Across the continent, innovators are applying technology to Africa’s unique challenges: Mobile money transforming financial systems, drones delivering medicine to remote communities, and digital platforms driving new efficiencies in agriculture and commerce.

For Gatete, a unified African market creates the demand volumes, investment incentives, and harmonized regulations required for frontier technologies to scale.

The ECA Executive Secretary said that the Commission remains fully committed to providing actionable data, evidence-based policy insights, technical support, and close partnerships with the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities, the private sector and development partners.

CPRTIIT Bureau outgoing Chair, Mamadjam Dinis Djalo, said Africa must make productivity enhancement through technology, skills, and innovation the centerpiece of our development strategies to achieve lasting prosperity.

 

Every innovation, every infrastructure investment, every trade opportunity, must translate into better livelihoods for Africans, especially for women, youth, and micro and small enterprises, he pointed out.

He called for continuous strengthening of the partnership between governments, the private sector, and regional institutions.

Djalo also stressed the need to invest more broadly in skills, research and innovation ecosystems that can turn Africa's potential into tangible results.