The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) has launched the fifth edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), with a renewed call for African countries to move beyond integration commitments and accelerate their implementation.

APD 2027 is scheduled for January 27 to 29, 2027, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra under the theme, “The Borderless Africa We Want: Move Freely. Pay Seamlessly. Trade More.”

Registration for the high-level continental forum is expected to open on Monday, September 7, 2026.

Speaking at a media briefing in Accra on Wednesday, September 2, APN Founder and Executive Chairman, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, said the 2027 dialogue would focus on converting policy commitments into practical outcomes.

He said the organisers would build on outcomes from previous editions, citing progress following APD 2024, where digital trade and seamless payment systems featured prominently in the outcome compact.

According to Mr Otchere-Darko, the APN subsequently brought together central banks, payment operators, telecommunications companies and other stakeholders to explore continent-wide mobile money interoperability.

The findings were presented to the African Union Mid-Year Coordination Summit in Accra in July 2024, where regional economic communities endorsed a commitment to establish a continent-wide mobile money interoperability framework by 2027.

Mr Otchere-Darko said the media had an important role to play in sustaining pressure on governments and institutions to deliver on such commitments.

“We need the media to help push that. The advocacy must be strong.”

He said unnecessary border restrictions continue to limit opportunities for young entrepreneurs and small businesses seeking to move people, goods and capital across the continent.

“We can’t have a situation where our leaders meet, agree on policies that are good for our continent, good for our economies, good for creating jobs, but are limited by the borders that were created for us by those who colonised us.”

Co-Founder of Borderless Alliance, Ziad Hamoui, said Africa already had several frameworks aimed at deepening integration, including the Abuja Treaty, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and ECOWAS free movement protocols.

However, he said the challenge remained translating those agreements into tangible benefits for citizens and businesses.

“An agreement does not move a truck. A protocol does not move a person. And a market is not truly open if businesses cannot transact across the borders.”

Mr Hamoui said intra-African trade currently accounts for about 15 to 16 per cent, while African citizens require visas to travel to approximately 45 per cent of destinations on the continent.

He said Borderless Alliance’s partnership with APN would seek to accelerate implementation through the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement and the Borderless Africa Agenda 2030.

The initiative seeks to mobilise signatures in support of greater freedom of movement and connected digital payment systems, with the signatures expected to be presented to African Union Heads of State in February 2027.

Four pillars for APD 2027

The 2027 dialogue will be organised around four thematic pillars:

• Move Freely – aviation, mobility and smart borders;
• Pay Seamlessly – payments, fintech and digital commerce;
• Connect Africa – digital infrastructure, telecommunications and artificial intelligence; and
• Trade More – logistics, trade finance and regional value chains.

The dialogue will also formally launch the Borderless Africa Agenda 2030, which will focus on two flagship reforms: a visa-free Africa and connected digital payment systems.

The three-day programme will begin with a Business and Policy Leaders’ Dialogue on the first two days, which is expected to produce an Outcome Document.

A Presidential and Business Leaders’ Summit will follow on the third day, with Heads of State and business leaders expected to adopt an APD 2027 Action Compact for presentation to the African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2027.

Director of Infrastructure, Industrialisation, Trade and Regional Integration at AUDA-NEPAD, Amine Idriss Adoum, said the APD 2027 agenda aligns with the African Union’s broader regional integration objectives, including the Single African Air Transport Market.

He said Africa’s integration challenges extend beyond financing and include the need to harmonise transport standards, energy transmission technologies and legal frameworks across countries.

AUDA-NEPAD, he said, would continue working with APN to support countries in aligning their national instruments with the vision of a borderless Africa.

The 2027 edition will be held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City due to the ongoing refurbishment of the Accra International Conference Centre, which hosted the previous edition.

The change in venue will significantly reduce the number of participants.

While APD 2026 attracted approximately 6,400 delegates from 94 countries, the Kempinski venue can accommodate about 1,000 participants.

APN said APD 2027 would nevertheless bring together political and business leaders, development partners, policymakers and private-sector stakeholders from across Africa and beyond to advance practical solutions to the continent’s integration challenges.

The network says its broader objective is to help create an Africa where people can move more freely, businesses can transact across borders with greater ease, and African economies can trade more profitably with one another.