Where does the impetus for regional integration come from in Africa?
Cheru: There are two pressures on African governments. On one hand, they want to get engaged with regional integration to deal with poverty. So there is a demand from below, coming from society. On the other hand, there’s pressure from above, from global forces. The pressure from outside, from the globalization of trade, may not be complementary to the kind of integration which emphasizes production, as opposed to exchange. We need to be able to produce. That means a lot of functional integration, in transport, in communications, to induce productivity. Not integration that simply induces expanded trade, selling goods produced in other countries. The global forces are more about exchange. Before you exchange, before you integrate with global markets, you have to create conditions for the private sector, for farmers, to become much more productive. This requires a lot more investment-oriented strategies, in research and development, in transport. So African governments are really sandwi
