Connecting Countries and Cities for Regional Value Chain Integration

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Available on the World Economic Forum's site Connecting Countries and Cities for Regional Value Chain Integration

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This report has been commissioned by the World Economic Forum Regional Action Group for Africa in preparation for the Davos Agenda 2021, as part of the Great Reset initiative.

Within the context of operationalizing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, as well as continuing to live with the COVID-19 outbreak, the members of the Regional Action Group for Africa identified five pathways as priorities for driving economic recovery and building resilience: new financing models for rapid recovery; unlocking manufacturing to mitigate global supply-chain risks; leveraging integration and regional value chains; revitalizing infrastructure and connectivity; and scaling digital transformation and inclusive innovation

This report is one in a series of reports investigating these pathways, and explores two priorities: first, unlocking manufacturing to mitigate global supply-chain risks; and second, leveraging integration and regional value chains. It also undertakes a review of the status quo of intra- African trade and current African efforts towards liberalizing trade in the continent, and seeks to identify avenues to be explored in order to deepen intra-African trade and unlock production capacity to meet local and global demands in strategic sectors, focusing on the automotive industry.

This report reviews the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Africa’s supply chains to highlight both the disruptions induced by the pandemic and the opportunities that it presents.

This report offers insights about:

Impact of COVID-19 on supply chains

• The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains in various ways.

Intra-African trade: the status quo

• For the past five years, intra-African trade has hovered at around 15%, reflecting a pressing need to increase economic integration on the continent.

Challenges to intra-African Trade

• Intra-African trade growth has been constrained, affecting the creation of regional value chains.

Addressing intra-regional trade and regional value chains (RVCs)

• There are a number of options for catalysing intra-regional trade.

Auto Pact – blueprint for industrialization

• This case study highlights the impact of driving an industry-led RVC.

Challenges in the automotive Industry

• Lack of scale and local capability have been stumbling blocks for the development of the automotive industry on the continent.

Building a regional automotive industry

• Advances in the automotive sector set the tone and pace for other sectors to mobilize and create stronger integrated RVCs.

Press Release

Study Finds Ways to Boost Intra-African Trade and Build Resilience