In brief: AfCFTA and ADI Foundation unveiled a $1 billion initiative to modernize digital infrastructure and reduce African cross-border trade costs. The partnership targets payment settlemen
The African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA) and ADI Foundation have unveiled a $1 billion plan to develop digital infrastructure aimed at reducing the cost of cross-border trade across Africa. The initiative focuses on strengthening payment systems, improving digital trade services, and expanding access to trade finance under the AfCFTA framework.
The organizations signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement in New York on July 18 to establish a joint venture that will mobilize funding from institutional investors, development finance institutions, and private capital without requiring direct budget commitments from African governments.
According to the official statement, fragmented trade systems cost Africa an estimated $100 billion every year due to disconnected payment networks, inefficient documentation processes, and limited interoperability between national digital trade platforms.
Moreover, the partners aim to remove most of those costs within five years while reducing cross-border payment settlement costs by as much as 90%, making regional trade more affordable for businesses.
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The initiative will operate under the AfCFTA legal framework, including the Protocol on Digital Trade, while complying with applicable national laws. Additionally, the infrastructure will rely on internationally recognized open standards to support compatibility across existing African digital platforms.
Deployment will begin with selected trade corridor pilots under the AfCFTA framework from late 2026 before expanding toward continent-wide coverage by 2030.
Besides improving payment systems, the partnership will address three long-standing challenges affecting intra-African trade. One priority involves creating verifiable digital commercial credentials that help businesses demonstrate their transaction history across borders.
Consequently, financial institutions and trading partners could assess commercial records more efficiently, improving financing opportunities for enterprises operating across multiple African markets.
Another objective focuses on digitizing and verifying trade documentation to reduce administrative expenses while shortening border processing times for goods moving between member states.
Furthermore, the infrastructure will connect with existing African digital platforms rather than replace them. It will also allow businesses to leverage certified assets, including inventories and invoices, when seeking financing.
H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, stated that the initiative addresses structural barriers preventing many businesses from participating in regional trade.
“Too many African businesses, particularly MSMEs and women- and youth-led businesses, remain excluded from cross-border trade not because they lack competitive products, but because they lack verifiable digital identities, affordable access to finance, interoperable payment systems and trusted digital trade networks. This partnership presents an opportunity to change that trajectory by building the foundations of an integrated African digital market that is secure, inclusive and owned by Africa.”
Ajay Bhatia, Principal Council Member of ADI Foundation, stated that the project is designed to match Africa’s commercial ambitions with the infrastructure needed to support regional trade.
“Africa has never lacked enterprise. It has lacked infrastructure equal to its ambition. This venture removes the cost of distance from intra-Africa trade — on open standards, under African governance, and we will measure our publicly stated ambition against the targets we have set together.”
According to the joint assessment, the initiative could lift intra-African trade well above its current trajectory by 2030. The partners also estimate the trade finance gap could fall by more than half while bringing eight times more small businesses into the formal economy.
The joint venture plans to mobilize more than $1 billion from institutional, development finance, and private investors to support the project. AfCFTA Secretariat and ADI Foundation estimate the initiative could add as much as $900 billion to Africa’s economic output by strengthening digital trade infrastructure and expanding intra-African trade.
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