From Cape to Cairo

In October 2008 three regional economic communities (RECs) - COMESA, EAC and SADC - agreed on a road map to launch an integration process aimed at forging the three blocs into a single unit. It is the first step towards the African Economic Community (AEC) beyond the level of sub-regional integration, encompassing more than 50 per cent of population and production of the continent. Hence, this single step already goes a long way towards accomplishing the goals of the Abuja Treaty. The SAFT conference of August 2009, convening sympathising analysts, observers and decision-makers, addressed the prospects and challenges of the huge undertaking of creating the AEC in the same symphathetic, positive and critical manner it used to apply to Southern African issues. The debate repeatedly emphasised the need to learn from existing RECs' experiences. The approach of the trilateral scheme has to be informed by an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of sub-regional integration processes, in order to avoid teething troubles besetting many RECs and to help keep the process on track. Based on this understanding, valuable contributions to the discussion on how best to further the process of tripartite integration were presented. This volume contains the papers presented at the conference.