African policymakers, business leaders, and development institutions have renewed calls for visa-free travel across the continent, describing the free movement of people as essential to unlocking Africa’s economic transformation and driving trade effectively under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
  
This call was reinforced at a high-level symposium on advancing a visa-free Africa for economic prosperity, co-convened by the African Development Bank Group and the African Union Commission on the margins of the 39th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government.

Participants noted mobility as the missing link in Africa’s integration agenda, arguing that while tariffs seem to be falling under AfCFTA, restrictive visa regimes continue to limit trade in services, investment flows, tourism and labour mobility.
 
Director General, Eastern Africa at the AfDB, Alex Mubiru, said that visa-free travel, interoperable digital systems, and integrated markets are practical enablers of enterprise, innovation, and regional value chains, helping translate policy ambitions into economic activity.  
  
“The evidence is clear and economics support openness,” he said, urging countries to move from incremental reforms to transformative change.
 
Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development at the African Union Commission, Amma Twum-Amoah, called for faster implementation of existing continental frameworks, describing visa openness as a strategic lever for deepening regional markets and enhancing collective responses to economic and humanitarian crises.

Former AU Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, reiterated that free movement is central to the AU’s long-term development blueprint, Agenda 2063.
 
“If we accept that we are all Africans, then we must be able to move freely across our continent,” she said, urging member states to operationalise initiatives such as the African Passport and the Free Movement of Persons Protocol.
  
Ghana’s Trade and Industry Minister, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, noted her country’s experience as an early adopter of open visa policies for African travellers, citing increased business travel, tourism and investor interest as early dividends of greater openness.

The symposium also reviewed findings from the latest Africa Visa Openness Index, which shows that more than half of intra-African travel still requires visas before departure, a situation that participants described as a significant drag on intra-continental commerce.
  
Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesfin Bekele, urged full and immediate implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), saying that aviation connectivity and visa liberalisation must advance together to enable seamless travel.

Regional representatives, including the executive secretary of the Southern Africa Development Community, Elias Magosi, emphasised the importance of building trust through border management and digital information-sharing systems.

Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, Gabby Otchere Darko, urged governments to support the “Make Africa Borderless Now” campaign and called for more ratifications of the AU Free Movement of Persons Protocol.

Participants said that achieving a visa-free Africa would require aligning migration policies, digital identity systems and border infrastructure, alongside sustained political commitment.
 
In a symbolic gesture, attendees signed a ‘passport wall,’ signalling support for accelerated reforms to make it easier for citizens to move across African borders.
 
The AfDB and AU Commission both said they would continue working with member states and regional bodies to advance coordinated approaches to mobility, which they said is a cornerstone of Africa’s integration, competitiveness and long-term growth.