Africa Trade Gateway: Building Trust and Seamless Trade Across Borders

Africa Trade Gateway: Building Trust and Seamless Trade Across Borders

• Blog
• September 14, 2025

By Ambassador Salim Kim Walusimbi

Africa stands at a transformative juncture in its economic journey. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), operational since January 2021, has ignited a bold vision for a unified continental market, promising to unlock unprecedented economic growth and integration. However, the promise of seamless trade across Africa’s 54 nations hinges on addressing persistent barriers—fragmented regulations, logistical bottlenecks, and a lack of trust in cross-border systems. The concept of an Africa Trade Gateway emerges as a pivotal framework to overcome these challenges, fostering trust, transparency, and efficiency to realize the full potential of intra-African trade. As a trade policy advisor and advocate for AfCFTA, I believe this gateway can redefine Africa’s role in global commerce, empower its entrepreneurs, and drive inclusive growth.

The Imperative for Seamless Trade

Intra-African trade remains strikingly low, accounting for only 12-18% of the continent’s total trade, compared to 70% in Europe and 60% in Asia. This figure, while understated due to unrecorded informal trade, reflects deep-seated structural challenges: high transaction costs, inconsistent customs procedures, and inadequate infrastructure. The African Development Bank estimates an annual infrastructure financing gap of $68–108 billion, which stifles the efficient movement of goods and services. For landlocked nations like Uganda, where I have championed trade facilitation, logistical hurdles such as costly cross-border transport and currency exchange losses further erode competitiveness.

The AfCFTA aims to address these issues by creating a single market for 1.4 billion people, with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. Yet, agreements alone cannot deliver. The success of this ambitious initiative depends on practical mechanisms to streamline trade processes, reduce friction, and build trust among traders, governments, and institutions. This is where the Africa Trade Gateway, a digital and institutional ecosystem designed to facilitate seamless trade becomes a game-changer.

The Africa Trade Gateway: A Vision for Connectivity

The Africa Trade Gateway is not merely a technological platform but a holistic framework that integrates digital infrastructure, harmonized policies, and trust-building mechanisms. It encompasses interoperable systems for payments, logistics, and customs clearance, alongside initiatives to empower small and medium enterprises (SMEs), women, and youth traders. Its core pillars include:

Digital Infrastructure for Trust and Efficiency: Digital platforms like the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) and the AfCFTA’s Digital Trade Protocol are revolutionizing cross-border transactions. PAPSS enables real-time payments in local currencies, reducing costs and exchange rate risks. Similarly, platforms like the Trade Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP) enhance transparency by providing real-time trade data, cutting clearance times by up to 70% in some regions. These tools address the trust deficit in cross-border commerce, where manual systems and misaligned standards erode confidence.

Harmonized Regulatory Frameworks: Diverse regulations across African nations increase compliance costs and delays. Regional economic communities (RECs) like ECOWAS, EAC, and COMESA have made strides in standardizing procedures, but alignment with AfCFTA’s framework is critical. Simplified Trade Regimes (STRs), such as those in COMESA, show promise in supporting informal traders, particularly women, who constitute 70-80% of small-scale cross-border traders in some countries. Harmonizing standards and reducing non-tariff barriers will create a predictable trade environment, fostering trust among stakeholders.

Infrastructure Investment: Physical and digital infrastructure gaps remain a significant hurdle. The Africa Trade Gateway envisions corridor-based approaches, connecting landlocked countries to coastal ports through modernized roads, railways, and digital systems. For instance, initiatives like the Lobito Corridor demonstrate how targeted investments can unlock trade potential. The EU’s Global Gateway, with its €1.2 billion commitment to renewable energy and trade infrastructure, aligns with this vision, provided it prioritizes African ownership and inclusivity.

Empowering SMEs and Marginalized Groups: SMEs, women, and youth are the backbone of Africa’s economy but face barriers like limited access to finance and markets. The Africa Trade Gateway can leverage AfCFTA’s framework to provide equity financing, as seen with Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), which supports Ugandan businesses in scaling exports. Platforms like iSOKO connect over 100,000 small-scale traders, many women, to new markets, reducing vulnerabilities and fostering inclusion.

Building Trust: The Cornerstone of Seamless Trade

Trust is the currency of trade. Without it, even the most advanced systems falter. African traders, particularly SMEs and informal traders, face uncertainties, border delays, bribery, and inconsistent policies that undermine confidence. The Africa Trade Gateway addresses this through:

Transparency and Accountability: Digital platforms ensure end-to-end visibility of trade processes, reducing opportunities for corruption. For example, single-window customs systems in Rwanda and Kenya have slashed clearance times, setting a replicable model.

Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs): South Africa’s AEO program, aligned with the WCO SAFE Framework, demonstrates how mutual trust in customs processes can expedite trade while maintaining security. Scaling such agreements continent-wide is essential.

Inclusive Policies: Empowering women and youth traders through STRs and digital training programs, like those by the International Trade Centre, builds trust by ensuring trade benefits reach marginalized communities.

Challenges and the Path Forward

Despite its promise, the Africa Trade Gateway faces challenges. Political commitment varies across member states, with some prioritizing national interests over regional integration. Infrastructure deficits and fiscal constraints limit implementation, while informal trade, though significant, remains underutilized due to data gaps. To overcome these, African leaders must:

Accelerate AfCFTA Implementation: Ratify protocols like the Digital Trade Protocol and harmonize regulations to reduce trade friction.

Invest in Digital and Physical Infrastructure: Partner with initiatives like the EU’s Global Gateway and Afreximbank’s FEDA to bridge financing gaps.

Prioritize Inclusion: Scale STRs and digital platforms to empower women, youth, and SMEs, ensuring trade benefits are equitable.

Counter Neocolonial Perceptions: Ensure partnerships with global players like the EU or China prioritize African agency and local stakeholder engagement.

A Call to Action

The Africa Trade Gateway is more than a concept; it is a clarion call for African leaders, businesses, and partners to act with urgency and unity. By leveraging digital innovation, harmonized policies, and inclusive frameworks, Africa can transform from a fragmented market into a global trade powerhouse. As I have advocated through my work with AfCFTA and FEDA, the tools exist: transit bonds, adjustment funds, and digital payment systems. What remains is the political will to turn vision into impact.

Africa’s trade future lies in our hands. Let us build a gateway that not only connects borders but also unites aspirations, fostering trust and prosperity for generations to come.

#PAPSS #AfricaTradeGateway #IATF2025 #AfCFTA #Afreximbank #TradeWithoutBorders #IntraAfricanTrade #FutureOfFinance #Mansa #DigitalAfrica  

For more information, visit: https://www.atg.africa/atg-connect

About the Author: Ambassador Salim Kim Walusimbi is a Trade Policy Advisor and a distinguished delegate to the Independent Continental Youth Advisory Council on the African Continental Free Trade Area (ICOYACA-AfCFTA). His advocacy focuses on transforming intra-African trade through innovative solutions and inclusive policies.