Wamkele Mene champions digital sovereignty, inclusive growth at Mahama’s Accra Reset Summit in Addis Ababa

The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene, has underscored the AfCFTA Secretariat’s central role in advancing Africa’s vision for sovereignty, resilience, and inclusive growth, telling a high-level gathering that building a fully interoperable and integrated African digital economy is no longer aspirational but an urgent operational priority.

1. E. Mene was speaking during a fireside chat at the Accra Reset gathering in Adsis Ababa on the margins of the AU Heads of State Summit. The Accra Reset is an ambitious initiative spearheaded by John Mahama, President of Ghana, that seeks to reimagine global governance frameworks for health and development in the post-SDG era. The event brought together African leaders, policymakers, development partners, and thought leaders to chart a new course for the continent’s engagement with international systems.

At the heart of Secretary-General H.E. Mene’s contribution to the fireside chat was a clear articulation of the relationship between African leadership’s strategic vision and the AfCFTA Secretariat’s institutional role in delivering the agreement.

H.E Mene highlighted three specific instruments through which the AfCFTA Secretariat is advancing Africa’s sovereignty and integration agenda: the AfCFTA Trade Hub, digital payment systems, and the AfCFTA Protocol on Digital Trade. Together, these tools represent a comprehensive approach to building the infrastructure that a genuinely integrated African economy requires.

The AfCFTA Trade Hub serves as a critical platform for connecting African businesses, governments, and trade facilitation institutions within the continental free trade framework.

Digital payment systems featured prominently in H.E. Mene’s remarks, reflecting the recognition that financial infrastructure is as fundamental to trade as physical infrastructure. The inability to make and receive payments efficiently and affordably across African borders has long been one of the most significant practical barriers to intra-African commerce, a barrier that is particularly acute for small businesses and individual traders who cannot absorb high transaction costs.

H.E. Mene’s emphasis on digital payment systems in the context of the Accra Reset initiative signals the AfCFTA Secretariat’s understanding that trade infrastructure and development governance are deeply interconnected. Payment systems that work for African businesses support the broader agenda of reducing dependence on external systems and building the self-reliance that African sovereignty requires.

President Mahama’s leadership of the Accra Reset initiative positions Ghana and Africa more broadly as proactive architects of post-SDG governance rather than passive recipients of frameworks designed elsewhere. The initiative’s focus on health technologies, digital systems, and financing reflects an understanding that sovereignty in these domains is foundational to Africa’s ability to determine its own development path.

Post Views: 1