The Laboratory for the Analysis of Societies and Powers / Africa – Diasporas (LASPAD) is pleased to invite you to an online seminar focusing on a key challenge facing African economic integration: infrastructure deficits.
The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to establish a vast single African market, promoting the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people. However, this ambitious project faces a major structural obstacle.
Poor road conditions, insufficient railway networks, and weak energy and digital infrastructures significantly hinder the fluidity of intra-African trade and limit the ability of African economies to fully benefit from the AfCFTA.
In this context, a critical question arises:
How do infrastructure deficits hinder the effective implementation of the AfCFTA and Africa’s economic integration?
This seminar seeks to analyze the economic, commercial, and institutional impacts of infrastructure deficits on African integration, while also exploring strategic pathways to strengthen connectivity and enhance the continent’s economic competitiveness.
Main speaker
Pr Malick Sané
Full Professor of Economics and Senior Lecturer at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD).
He is also the Director of the Laboratory of Trade Policy (LAPOCOM) and has published extensively on African economic integration, trade policy, and development issues.
Moderation
M. Mohamed Mbaye
PhD candidate in Political Science and Junior Researcher at LASPAD.
Practical information
Date: Thursday, December 18, 2025
Time: 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (GMT)
Meeting ID: 822 742 7469
Access Code: VTb4uf