Strategies for Africa to Benefit from Mineral Resources

Sulaiman Cisse argues that for Africa to effectively benefit from its vast mineral resources, it must prioritize early public investment, establish special economic zones, and secure early involvement from development finance institutions. Currently, intra-African trade stands at only 14.4 percent, significantly trailing Asia's 60 percent. Cisse suggests that the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is essential to provide the necessary market scale that individual national markets cannot sustain. This approach aligns with the 2009 Africa Mining Vision, which advocated for downstream linkages into mineral beneficiation and local manufacturing.