The African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA) and ADI Foundation have announced a $1 billion initiative to build digital infrastructure intended to lower the cost of cross-border trade across Africa.

The plan focuses on strengthening payment systems, expanding digital trade services, improving access to trade finance, and supporting interoperable platforms under the AfCFTA framework. The partners said the initiative will use open standards and is designed to help businesses across the continent participate more effectively in regional commerce.

AfCFTA and ADI Foundation signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement in New York on July 18 to create a joint venture for the project. The venture is expected to mobilize funding from institutional investors, development finance institutions, and private capital, without requiring direct budget commitments from African governments.

According to an official statement, fragmented trade systems cost Africa an estimated $100 billion each year. The statement cited disconnected payment networks, inefficient documentation processes, and limited interoperability between national digital trade platforms as key sources of those costs.

The partners said they aim to eliminate most of those costs within five years. They also said the initiative could reduce cross-border payment settlement costs by as much as 90%, making regional trade more affordable for businesses operating across African markets.

Digital infrastructure planned for regional commerce

The initiative will operate under the AfCFTA legal framework, including the Protocol on Digital Trade, while complying with applicable national laws. Its infrastructure will be based on internationally recognized open standards to support compatibility with existing African digital platforms.

That interoperability goal is central to the proposal because many of the costs identified by the partners arise when businesses, banks, customs systems, and digital platforms cannot reliably exchange or verify trade information across borders. By emphasizing open standards rather than replacement of existing systems, the project is positioned as shared infrastructure for regional commerce instead of a competing national platform.

Deployment is scheduled to begin with selected trade corridor pilots under the AfCFTA framework from late 2026. The partners plan to expand the system toward continent-wide coverage by 2030, making the early corridor pilots an important test of whether the model can work across different national legal, payment, and documentation environments.

In addition to payment improvements, the partnership will focus on three long-standing obstacles affecting intra-African trade. One priority is the creation of verifiable digital commercial credentials that allow businesses to demonstrate their transaction histories across borders.

The partners said such credentials could help financial institutions and trading counterparties assess commercial records more efficiently. That, in turn, is intended to improve financing opportunities for enterprises that operate across multiple African markets.

Another objective is the digitization and verification of trade documentation. The partners said this would reduce administrative expenses and shorten border processing times for goods moving between member states.

The planned infrastructure is not intended to replace existing African digital platforms. Instead, it will connect with them and allow businesses to use certified assets, including inventories and invoices, when seeking financing.

H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, said the initiative targets structural barriers that prevent 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, said the project is designed to align Africa’s commercial activity with infrastructure capable of supporting 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.”

Partners set 2030 economic targets

According to the partners’ joint assessment, the initiative could raise intra-African trade well above its current trajectory by 2030. They also estimate that the trade finance gap could be reduced by more than half, while eight times more small businesses could be brought into the formal economy.

The joint venture plans to mobilize more than $1 billion from institutional, development finance, and private investors to fund the project. AfCFTA Secretariat and ADI Foundation also estimate that the initiative could add as much as $900 billion to Africa’s economic output by strengthening digital trade infrastructure and expanding intra-African trade.

The next measurable steps are expected to include capital mobilization, the selection of pilot trade corridors, and implementation details showing how the proposed infrastructure will comply with national laws while operating under the AfCFTA framework.