By Babajide Sodipo – Acting Executive Secretary, Alliance of African Multilateral Financial Institutions (AAMFI) – The Africa Club
A borderless Africa is not a slogan. It is a strategic necessity. Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area are clear in their ambition: an Africa where people, goods, services and crucially, capital can move more freely across borders in support of growth, resilience, and shared prosperity.
But we must be honest with ourselves. A truly borderless Africa will not be achieved by policy commitments alone. It is, at its core, a financial integration challenge. Free movement requires African capital to flow efficiently across borders. It requires liquidity, guarantees, risk-sharing instruments, and financial institutions that are able to work together — not in silos, but in coordination.
This is where African multilateral financial institutions already play a vital role. Across the continent, they finance cross-border trade, regional infrastructure, investment corridors, and payment and settlement systems that make integration real on the ground. When these institutions align and coordinate, their impact is multiplied. That is why AAMFI exists.
The Alliance was established to strengthen cooperation among Africa’s multilateral financial institutions and to support continental priorities, including integration, AfCFTA implementation, and the AU Free Movement Protocol — with practical financial solutions.
AAMFI works closely with the African Union and its institutions to help ensure that Africa’s integration agenda is underpinned by a strong, well-coordinated financial architecture. As the “Make Africa Borderless Now!” initiative is launched today, AAMFI welcomes the opportunity to lend its collective voice to the importance of free movement, especially the free movement of African capital and to reaffirm our readiness to work with partners to translate Africa’s integration commitments into bankable, scalable outcomes.
A borderless Africa will be built not only by vision, but by institutions, coordination, and capital. African institutions stand ready to play their part.