Building Bridges, Not Barriers: African Leaders Push for Digitised Borders and Trade Integration

The African Development Bank Group has been at the forefront of supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and promoting regional infrastructure projects that ease cross-border trade.

The sixth edition of the Africa Resilience Forum (ARF), held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 1 to 3 October 2025, underscored a powerful message: political will, regional cooperation, and digital innovation are key to transforming Africa’s borders from barriers into gateways for peace, prosperity, and resilience.

During a panel titled “Regional Integration and Trade as Pathways to Peace,” leaders from across the continent, development institutions, and the private sector called for accelerated investment in modern, digitised border infrastructure — including the establishment of One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) — to simplify trade, promote mobility, and foster regional cohesion.

The Vision: One Border, One System

“The ideal is to have a single border post between countries — if we were to have strong infrastructure like that, it would help facilitate trade,” said Mohammed Abdiker, Chief of Staff of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in his address to delegates.

He emphasized that political will is the cornerstone of progress, urging African governments to prioritize policies and funding that support free movement of goods and people.

“We must all work together, advocating to our governments on the importance of the movement of goods and people for a more integrated management of our borders,” Abdiker said. “Not only for customs duties, but also for science and technology.”

Abdiker shared examples of IOM’s work on cross-border cooperation projects in Africa, including a single border post between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, and a new collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) to establish a trade facilitation centre between the Central African Republic and Cameroon. Both initiatives aim to boost legal trade and enhance socio-economic stability in fragile border regions.

African Development Bank’s Role in Regional Integration

The African Development Bank Group has been at the forefront of supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and promoting regional infrastructure projects that ease cross-border trade.

Since the AfCFTA’s launch in January 2021, 49 countries have ratified the agreement, creating a market of 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of over $3.4 trillion — making it the largest free trade area in the world.

AfDB has invested heavily in One Stop Border Post (OSBP) projects, which streamline customs and immigration procedures by merging the functions of two neighboring countries at a single, shared location.

Among its key successes are:

• The Taveta–Holili OSBP between Tanzania and Kenya, which has dramatically reduced cargo clearance times.

• The juxtaposed checkpoint between Benin and Togo, financed through the African Development Fund (ADF), the Bank’s concessional window, which has enhanced transparency and reduced trade bottlenecks.

These initiatives align with the Bank’s broader Regional Integration Strategy Framework (2023–2033), which seeks to reduce transaction costs, enhance digital connectivity, and unlock Africa’s potential as a unified economic bloc.

The Digital Frontier: Tackling Corruption and Inefficiency

Magdalene Dagoseh, Liberia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, stressed that digital transformation of border systems must go hand-in-hand with infrastructure development.

“As well as having a single border post at each of our borders, we will need to digitise border services,” she said. “This is a solution for controlling not only the movement of people, but also commercial goods. By digitising the various border points, we can fight corruption – we know how many people have left or entered, and this prevents other problems.”

Dagoseh emphasized that digitalization offers the dual benefit of enhancing transparency and combating illicit trade, while also supporting faster data exchange between customs, immigration, and trade authorities.

Harnessing the Power of Civil Society and the Private Sector

From the private sector, Ziad Hamoui, President of Borderless Alliance — a coalition launched in 2012 to promote free movement across West Africa — called for greater inclusion of civil society and informal traders in the design of cross-border policies.

“There is formal trade, but also informal trade, not to mention illicit trade and smuggling,” Hamoui said. “Today, the volume of trade in the informal sector is higher than in the formal sector. So if you don’t know what’s going on at the borders, you won’t know how to manage it.”

He noted that informal cross-border trade employs millions of Africans, particularly women and youth, and contributes significantly to local economies. However, these traders often face extortion, harassment, and lack of infrastructure — challenges that can only be addressed through participatory policy frameworks.

The Border as a Bridge for Peace

Speakers agreed that regional integration is not just an economic goal — it is a peacebuilding strategy. By improving connectivity, governments can reduce tensions, create jobs, and build mutual trust between communities divided by borders.

Studies by the AfDB and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) show that fully implementing the AfCFTA could increase intra-African trade by more than 50 percent by 2030 and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty.

Moreover, border infrastructure such as shared checkpoints and trade corridors often become zones of cooperation rather than confrontation, fostering dialogue between security forces, traders, and local communities.

From Barriers to Gateways

Panellists at the Africa Resilience Forum emphasized that Africa’s borders should no longer be seen as lines of division, but as engines of economic growth and social cohesion.

By combining infrastructure investment, digital transformation, and inclusive governance, the continent can turn fragile borderlands into hubs of innovation, commerce, and stability.

“The political will to build quality infrastructure at borders, including single digitised checkpoints, is not just a logistical goal — it is a symbol of Africa’s readiness to trade, to connect, and to prosper together,” said one delegate from the African Union Commission.

A Platform for Action

Organized every two years by the African Development Bank Group, the Africa Resilience Forum serves as a key platform linking humanitarian, development, and peace actors to design strategies that prevent conflict, build resilience, and attract sustainable investment.

The 2025 edition, themed “Prioritising Prevention: Financing Peace in a Changing Development Cooperation Landscape”, brought together policymakers, civil society, and private sector leaders to discuss how Africa can better anticipate crises and foster inclusive growth.

As the discussions concluded, participants reaffirmed that regional integration remains Africa’s strongest pathway to peace and shared prosperity — and that with political determination, digital innovation, and partnership, the dream of borderless trade and unity is within reach.