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AfCFTA and the Architecture of Regional Value Chains

How corridors, standards and patient capital can make continental trade commercially real.

TAY Editorial · 10 July 2026 · 8 min
The question

What should infrastructure make possible?

How corridors, standards and patient capital can make continental trade commercially real.

What we observe

The asset is only the beginning

How corridors, standards and patient capital can make continental trade commercially real.

The tension

Completion is visible; productive use is the test

The central issue is whether the intervention changes the conditions for productive activity, rather than only increasing the stock of assets.

TAY interpretation

The economic unit is the system around the asset

How corridors, standards and patient capital can make continental trade commercially real.

Evidence and analysis

What the evidence shows

Closing proposition

From asset delivery to productive capability

How corridors, standards and patient capital can make continental trade commercially real.