NEPAD, the development agency of the African Union responsible for coordinating and executing priority regional and continental development projects that promote economic integration in Africa, just released the Second Agenda 2063 ten-year implementation plan covering the 2024 – 2033 period. Agenda 2063 is a long-term strategy (covering a period of 50 years) that was adopted in 2013 by the African Union (AU) on the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Organisation of African Unity (the predecessor of the AU), to guide Africa's development for the next half-century. Its purpose is to identify a series of objectives (called “aspirations”) that aim at transforming the continent into a global powerhouse by 2063. Agenda 2063 is implemented by a series of Ten-Year Plans. The first one, referred to the period 2014-2023, was adopted by the AU Heads of States and Government Assembly in June 2015. The current one was adopted at the recently concluded 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the AU held in Addis Ababa from 17th to 18th February 2024.

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To boost free trade in Africa, infrastructure plays a key role. A report from the International Trade Council submitted to the Connecticut General Assembly (the legislative branch of the State Government of Connecticut) noted a few years ago that “International trade cannot happen without roads, bridges, railroads, harbors, airports, and fiber optic cables”, concluding that for this reason, infrastructure should be regarded (by States) not only as financial burdens, but as economic assets where to attract strategic investments. In Africa, a continent that is tipically characterized by long distances between urban centers and production areas, railway transport is key, being this mode of transport the most economically viable over long distances and for the transportation of high cargo volumes (as the load capacity of trains is much higher than lorries or trucks). Yet, this mode of transport is also the most underdeveloped in Africa. This is mostly due to the colonial legacy of the African transport system. Indeed, most of the railways and interstate roads that currently exist in Africa were built during the colonization era by European nations to connect mining areas and agricultural production centers in the interior of the continent to the coast, so as to enable the export of raw materials needed to feed the production processes of European manufacturing companies. The same nations had no economic interest in building railroads and roads connecting African states to each other.

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