ABSTRACT
Beyond the obvious benefits of sharing infrastructure, regional cooperation is indispensable to strengthen and fix other aspects of African development. Like in negotiating foreign trade deals, putting in place regional stock exchanges – East Africa is showing the way with the agricultural section of the Kigali stock exchange – setting shared regulations for different professions, recognising diplomas, harmonising professional certifications, etc. For at least 15 years, the states of the Economic Community of West African States closed their eyes to the risks posed by the circulation of light weapons throughout the region. Nigerien officers are trained at the National institute for active officers in Senegal. Cameroonian engineers are trained in Lagos; Malian imams in Morocco. The Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence programme is helping selected African higher education institutions to create world-class courses related to priority areas of the economy. It plans to enrol more than 3,500 graduate students within the next five years.
