Time to Walk the Talk: Regional Aid for Trade in Africa

A great deal of progress seems to have been made in recent years in recognising the importance of addressing Regional Aid for Trade(RAfT) needs alongside national ones. The quantitative improvements however need to be matched with qualitative ones if AfT is to deliver on the high expectations that have been raised. This paper has argued that in order to increase the effectiveness of RAfT it needs to be driven by the principles of the Paris Declaration/Accra Agenda for Action as well as address the following 5 C-s: Coherence, Coordination, Complementarity, Communication and Capacity. It will require genuine political will from all stakeholders involved to address these 5 C-s for RAfT not to fall into the traditional “implementation gap”. And while assisting regional integration processes is now featuring higher on the AfT agenda it is time to walk to talk. 

Melissa Dalleau and Kathleen van Hove have contributed chapter seven of this publication Comparative Regionalisms for Development in the 21st Century

Photo by By webercw