Single Passport: Towards Making Africa Borderless for Development

• The African Union is on track in realizing a borderless continent to promote the free movement of citizens and goods, leading to development.
• One of the Africa’s Agenda 2063 is to create “a continent with seamless borders” to promote the free movement of citizens and goods.

  The plan to initiate the new electronic African Union (AU) passport seems to be taking shape as the first Africans to be issued with the electronic passport (e-Passport) will be the heads of state from across Africa who will arrive in Kigali, Rwanda next month. The leaders will be attending the African Union Summit.

  The flagship project, first agreed upon in 2014, is part of the framework of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and is aimed at facilitating free movement of persons, goods, and services around the continent – in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration, and socio-economic development. The AU said in a statement that the e-Passport will be launched at the 27th AU Summit in Kigali in July.

  According to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, this initiative is both “symbolic and significant,” calling it a “steady step toward the objective of creating a strong, prosperous and integrated Africa, driven by its own citizens and capable of taking its rightful place on the world stage.”

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