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Dr Wumi Olayiwola holds a Ph.D degree in Economics with specialization in International Trade, Development Economics and Macroeconomic Analysis. He is a Trade Economist and Principal Programme Officer in the Department of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research of ECOWAS Commission, Abuja. He has worked extentively in macroeconomic policy, international trade, and economic integration issues. He is a Faculty Member of Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (TRAPCA), Arusha, Tanzania. He also has vast experience in consultancy and developed research materials and facilitated training programme for the World Bank Group, Washington DC. USA. He is also a Research Fellow to the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Nairobi Kenya. He is also a Managing Partner of Market Derivatives Limited, Lagos and KSM2G Professionals, Abuja. He contributed numerous articles on trade, industrial development, and macroeconomic policies to learned publications. He is a consultant to United Nations Development Programme.

Allen is the Deputy CEO and Chief of Programmes at TradeMark East Africa. In this role she is responsible for the overall operations and technical delivery of TMEA’s entire project portfolio in infrastructure, trade environment, and business competitiveness with a cumulative budget of $1.2bn (over the last decade), spanning 12 countries in East, Horn and Southern Africa, and currently expanding to West Africa. Allen also oversees the Climate Change and Gender portfolios and leads collaboration with key stakeholders and development partners, including the Partner States, FCDO, USAID, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. She chaired the $32m TMEA Safe Trade Emergency Facility that was established to respond to and mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the region.

Maiko MIYAKE is the World Bank Group program manager of Trade Facilitation West Africa Program (TFWA), which is an initiative driven by multiple international development partners (i.e., USAID, the Netherlands, EU and BMZ) to improve trade facilitation in West Africa. The Program is managed by the World Bank Group and the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ), with strategic oversight and guidance provided by a Steering Committee that is chaired by the ECOWAS Commission and supported by the UEMOA Commission as deputy chair. Maiko has a strong track record of achieving results on the ground for over 100 projects in a broad range of private sector and financial sector development themes from multiple regions of the world.

Dr. Bruce Byiers is a development economist with a DPhil from the University of Sussex. While past work has focused a lot on strategies and policies for private sector development and engagement, his interests and responsibilities increasingly revolve around regional integration processes in Africa, particularly from a political economy perspective. This includes looking at regional organisations, but also at regional economic integration dynamics. Bruce has carried out policy research for ECDPM in many countries in Eastern, Western and Southern Africa. Prior to ECDPM, Bruce worked as a consultant for UNIDO, USAID, World Bank and DANIDA, among others. The focus of his work was mainly on industrial policy, private sector development and tax policy, particularly in Mozambique, Rwanda and Lesotho.

Greetings to all participants. Timely & relevant subject matter.

Greetings from Borderless Alliance in Accra, Ghana. Very interested in drawing conclusions from interacting with the various RECs and stakeholders across Africa, from a development perspective; about what works, what doesn't and how to help accelerate regional integration in West Africa

Dear participants, do feel free to already post your questions

Thanks for joining Sehoai and Ziad! To you and others - any comments or thoughts as we go along are welcome here in the chat!

Hi All, Lots of provocative and insightful observations in this conversation. It would be great to get a summary report.

Hey Bruce, perhaps we'll complete the other half of your thesis by the time we end today's seminar. As we just came back from the AFRIGOS closing workshop, my main interest is in the link between academic research, policymaking and implementation. Like Alan, I am looking forward to the summary of conclusions from this clash of titans :)

Dear Alan and Ziad, Bruce will be putting together a note reflecting on the webinar, so watch this space!

Citizens also need to see the material benefits of integration to be able to support the political leadership and give RECs the momentum to mover ever closer together

I think Wumi mentions an important point in terms of PEA cannot all be done by external consultants (though Bruce's point about it being external, rather than internal to the programming might also make sense is some cases). But while PEA studies do manage to do a backward-looking analysis, how to make it more relevant looking forward?

Ah the same question being raised by Bruce now.

Apologies--I have to leave the meeting, but I look forward to the summary report. Excellent conversation, thank you.

I took a road trip from Lagos to Dakar in 2019 for the same reasons

"There are technical challenges and there are non-technical challenges. Today, we are only focusing on the technical ones". The above is a line that has been used so many times to justify political challenges preventing reform implementation. How can development transcend beyond the technical, with the buy-in from RECs, countries and citizens? Where is the optimal balance point?

Zaid, is there ever a balance? akin to work life balance? the mystical unicorn:-). Even where dominant forces seems to drive e.g. for or against integration, we must ensure inclusion of voices that would otherwise remain muted- for instance women traders who don't understand our fixation for borders

Yes, I like the focus on "buy-in" and including the real users of these reforms into the discussion