The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) and Ethiopian Airlines have opened discussions on a strategic collaboration aimed at accelerating the “Make Africa Borderless Now!” agenda, a continental campaign pushing for the full implementation of Africa’s economic integration agreements.
The meeting, held at the airline’s headquarters in Addis Ababa on Monday, focused on promoting the free movement of people, goods and services across Africa, with air transport identified as a critical driver of integration and intra-African trade.
The campaign seeks to persuade African governments to implement key protocols already adopted, including the Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment Protocol, and the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM), both adopted in 2018 but yet to be fully operationalised across the continent.
APN used the meeting to invite Africa’s largest airline to become a major partner in the movement, which was launched in Accra earlier this month. The initiative aims to mobilise 10 million signatures to demand visa-free travel for Africans within Africa, implementation of the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol, and the broader removal of trade and travel barriers.
Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesfin, expressed strong support for the initiative.
“We would like to be part of this initiative,” he said, acknowledging that visa restrictions remain a major obstacle to travel across the continent.
“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,” he stated.
While noting that a fully borderless Africa may not happen overnight, he stressed that progress could be accelerated through deliberate collaboration. He added that greater freedom of movement would significantly boost intra-African trade and air cargo volumes.
Executive Chairman and Founder of APN, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, emphasised the need for African central banks and regulators to enable continent-wide mobile money interoperability. This, he said, would allow Africans to transact seamlessly across borders using their mobile money wallets.
Addressing concerns about security under a visa-free regime, he pointed to the example of ECOWAS, which operates a biometric passport system enabling member states to track movement within the bloc.
“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,” he said, adding that Rwanda’s visa-free policy for Africans demonstrates that security concerns can be managed without restricting movement.
He also raised concerns about the slow pace of ratifying the Free Movement Protocol, noting that only four countries have signed on so far, short of the 15 required for it to come into force.
“It is not right that people from outside the continent have more access to Africa and African economic opportunities than Africans,” he said, stressing that more Africans currently travel by air outside the continent than within it.
The engagement signals growing momentum behind the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement, as stakeholders push to translate Africa’s integration ambitions into practical outcomes. Both parties indicated that further meetings will be held to define the scope of the potential partnership.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com