The African Development Bank Group (AfDB), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and Africa50 have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to catalyse infrastructure development and unlock the potential of the world’s largest free trade area since the creation of the World Trade Organization.
The agreement, signed at the Africa50 General Shareholders Meeting in Maputo, establishes a framework to identify, design, construct, and maintain critical infrastructure projects that will enhance intra-African trade, accelerate regional integration, and advance digital transformation across a market of 1.3 billion people.
Currently, intra-African trade makes up just 15–18% of the continent’s total trade, far below Europe’s 68% and Asia’s 59%. The partnership aims to close this gap by addressing infrastructure bottlenecks through investments in multimodal transport corridors, cross-border infrastructure, logistics hubs, ports, and airports to connect African markets and lower business costs.
The agreement also places emphasis on digital transformation. The partners plan to collaborate on developing modern data centres and digital trade platforms to enable African businesses to compete globally.
“The African Development Bank has played a lead role in supporting the development and operation of regional economic corridors throughout the African continent by investing over $55 billion in the last nine years to develop road corridors, ports, railways, and expand power pools to interlink countries and boost trade,” said Solomon Quaynor, Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialization at the Bank. He noted the institution had specifically invested more than $8 billion across 109 cross-border economic corridors and infrastructure projects between 2014 and 2024.
Quaynor added, “The tripartite agreement between the AfCFTA Secretariat, the African Development Bank, and Africa50 underscores the paramount importance of realizing the full potential of the AfCFTA single market with its combined annual GDP of $3.4 trillion through the establishment of transport infrastructure.”
Africa50 CEO Alain Ebobissé highlighted the significance of the agreement, saying “the development and financing of trade-enabling infrastructure to boost intra-African trade, one of the continent’s greatest endeavours.”
The MoU is anchored on six pillars: aligning projects with AfCFTA and regional policies, jointly identifying bankable projects, mobilising capital through innovative financing, establishing tracking systems, encouraging stakeholder dialogue, and embedding environmental, social, and governance standards throughout project lifecycles.
The three-year partnership will be operationalised through joint work plans, implementation agreements, and technical working groups to coordinate delivery and align projects with national and regional development priorities.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene underscored the urgency of the task, noting that, “In the global context, we are facing an unprecedented challenge in Africa. But this challenge is a unique opportunity for Africa; it is a wake-up call for us that we have to invest in our institutions, in infrastructure, and our skills. Infrastructure development is at the heart of trade and is a prerequisite to doubling intra-African trade to 25% by 2030.”
