African policymakers, business leaders, and development institutions have renewed calls for visa-free travel across the continent, at a High-Level Symposium on Advancing a Visa-Free Africa for Economic Prosperity.
- •The symposium was co-convened by the African Development Bank Group and the African Union Commission on the margins of the 39th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa.
- •Participants framed mobility as the missing link in Africa’s integration agenda, arguing that while tariffs are falling under AfCFTA, restrictive visa regimes continue to limit trade in services, investment flows, tourism, and labour mobility.
- •A visa-free Africa will need complementary migration policies, digital identity systems, and border infrastructure, alongside sustained political commitment.
“The economics support openness. The human story demands it,” Alex Mubiru, Director General for Eastern Africa at the African Development Bank Group told participants, urging countries to move from incremental reforms to “transformative change.”
Former AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma reiterated that free movement is central to the African Union’s long-term development blueprint, Agenda 2063. “If we accept that we are Africans, then we must be able to move freely across our continent,” she said, urging member states to operationalise initiatives such as the African Passport and the Free Movement of Persons Protocol.
Ghana’s Trade and Industry Minister, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, shared her country’s experience as an early adopter of open visa policies for African travellers, citing increased business travel, tourism, and investor interest as early dividends of greater openness.
The latest Africa Visa Openness Index shows that more than half of intra-African travel still requires visas before departure.
