PAMA Lauds AfDB, AfCFTA, Africa50 Partnership to Accelerate Africa’s Trade Infrastructure and Integration
The Pan-African Manufacturers Association (PAMA)has commended the signing of a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) between the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and Africa50 at the General Shareholders Meeting in Maputo to catalyse infrastructure development and unlock the full potential of the world’s largest free trade area since the World Trade Organisation, (WTO).
According to the PAMA September 2025 news bulletin, the tripartite agreement establishes a framework for cooperation in identifying, financing, and maintaining critical infrastructure projects that will accelerate regional integration, strengthen intra-African trade, and drive digital transformation across the continent’s $3.4 trillion market of 1.3 billion people.
It noted that currently, intra-African trade accounts for only 15–18% of the continent’s total trade, far below Europe’s 68% and Asia’s 59%.
AfDB Vice President for Private Sector, Infrastructure & Industrialisation, Solomon Quaynor, hinted that the Bank has already invested over $55 billion in road corridors, ports, railways, and power pools over the last nine years, including more than $8 billion in 109 cross-border infrastructure projects between 2014 and 2024.
Africa50 CEO, Alain Ebobissé, highlighted that the partnership would “support the development and financing of trade-enabling infrastructure to boost intra-African trade, one of the continent’s greatest endeavours.” AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene added that infrastructure is “a prerequisite to doubling intra-African trade to 25% by 2030.”
PAMA acknowledged that the partnership represents a bold and pragmatic step in addressing one of the most critical barriers to Africa’s industrialisation — inadequate infrastructure.
PAMA also believes prioritising multimodal transport corridors, logistics hubs, ports, airports, and digital platforms, the agreement directly speaks to the needs of manufacturers who continue to face steep logistics costs and fragmented supply chains across African borders.
PAMA explained that the tripartite MoU will offer more than infrastructure for Africa’s manufacturing sector, especially in facilitating intra-Africa trade under the AfCFTA framework, adding that it is only with such infrastructure that they can provide an enabling environment where regional value chains can flourish, industrial competitiveness can deepen, and Made-in-Africa goods can find easier access to continental and global markets.
PAMA calls for the fast implementation of the six strategic pillars of the agreement and urges governments, financiers, and private investors to rally behind this transformative framework.
“The success of the AfCFTA, and Africa’s industrial future, depends on making trade-enabling infrastructure a top continental priority,” the Association emphasized.