The Malabo Declaration and African Continental Free Trade Area: a case for supranational industrial policy

Abstract

This policy brief argues a case for a supranational industrial policy, akin to mission-oriented policies, supporting the agriculture industry in Africa as envisaged in the African Union's Malabo Declaration on Agriculture and Postharvest Losses, which was adopted in 2014. This would enable Africa to propel the first steps of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Towards this end, the proposed policy approach is a supranational and state directed policy effort orchestrating the development of specific regional manufacturing and services value chains and linkages covering more than one country in each region. Most critical for the AfCFTA is that the policy has to intensify the dominance of African-owned private enterprise in this development.