AFRICA’S COMPETITIVENESS: THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND INTRA REGIONAL TRADE Oladele Omosegbon Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, Indiana, USA

Regional Trade is it! Although they remain quite useful and important for Africa looking forward, unilateral trade preferences alone can hardly enable the conditions required for the development of regional value chains.(ERA, 2015)

Current trends in U.S. Trade with Africa

Change in U.S. Ms from and Xs to Africa

ERA 2015: Africa Industrializing through Trade “.. it is also important to note that Africa is capable of surpassing the East Asian miracle by carefully designing trade and industrial path that takes into consideration lessons from experience as well as the current and future developments in the global environment.”

Tripartite Free Trade Area Mukwaya and Mold (2014) – 26 countries – COMESA – EAC – SADC – $11B Net Effect

Tripartite Free Trade Area

Top Ten Export and Imports of Africa Export Import HS Code Product HS Code Product 27 Mineral Fuels, etc 27 Mineral Fuels, etc 71 Pears, precious stones 84 Machinery, nuclear reactors 26 Ores, slag and ash 87 Vehicles other than railways 85 Electrical, electronic 85 Electrical, electronic 87 Vehicles other than railways 10Cereals 74 Copper and articles thereof 39Plastics 84 Machinery, nuclear reactors 72Iron and Steel 18 Cocoa and preparations 89Ships, boats 72Iron and Steel73 Articles of Iron and Steel 89Ships, boats30Pharmaceutical products

Inter Country Trade Indexes for African Countries

African Trade Indexes

Of Overlapping Institutions

Stylized Path to Integration

Conclusion Instead of chasing some elusive historical deus ex machina in regard to Africa’s investment and competitiveness, what is needed is the actualization of African Union’s enacted plan of regional economic communities and its committed goal of the complete unification, that is, economic integration, of the 54 member-nation continent.