Africa: Improved regional integration still key for success

While its economic landscape is brightening, Africa is still bedeviled by some of the same obstacles that have historically undermined economic development in the resource and labour-rich region. And many of those woes could be solved through development of further intraregional trade. 'The relatively small weight of intraregional trade in Africa, despite the existence of several (and frequently overlapping) regional trade agreements, is due largely to their structure of production and the composition of their exports', according to a report released earlier this month by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).