The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) has launched the 2027 edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), with registration set to open on Monday, September 7, 2026.
The fifth edition of the high-level continental integration forum is scheduled for January 27–29, 2027, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, under the theme: “The Borderless Africa We Want: Move Freely. Pay Seamlessly. Trade More.”
The launch was announced at a media briefing at the APN Secretariat in Accra on Wednesday, September 2, and brought together APN leadership and strategic partners, including Amine Idriss Adoum, Director of Infrastructure, Industrialisation, Trade and Regional Integration at AUDA-NEPAD, and Ziad Hamoui, Co-Founder of Borderless Alliance.
The 2027 edition will be held at the Kempinski Hotel because of ongoing refurbishment of the Accra International Conference Centre, which hosted the previous edition.
While APD 2026 attracted approximately 6,400 delegates from 94 countries, the new venue has a capacity of about 1,000 participants.
Founder and Executive Chairman of APN, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, said APD 2027 would focus on translating existing continental commitments into practical action.
He cited developments following APD 2024, where digital economy and seamless payment systems featured prominently in the outcome compact.
According to him, the AfCFTA Secretariat, in collaboration with Smart Africa, GSMA Africa and other stakeholders, subsequently passed the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol within weeks.
APN also convened a symposium in July 2024 involving central banks, payment operators and telecommunications companies to develop a pathway towards continent-wide mobile money interoperability.
“We brought all the stakeholders together, the central banks of the continent, the NCAs, the payment operators, and they came up with a report on achieving the ability to buy and sell across the continent using just your mobile money,” Mr Otchere-Darko said.
He said the report was presented to the African Union’s Mid-Year Coordination Summit in Accra on July 21, 2024, where it was unanimously endorsed by the regional economic communities represented.
The summit subsequently committed to having a continent-wide mobile money interoperability framework operational by 2027 — a target which APN says aligns directly with the focus of APD 2027.
Mr Otchere-Darko called on the media to strengthen advocacy for the implementation of such commitments, particularly for young entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises.
“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,” he said.
He said the 2027 dialogue would therefore focus on enabling Africans to move more freely across borders, conduct transactions through interoperable digital payment systems and unlock greater opportunities for intra-African trade.
Ziad Hamoui of Borderless Alliance said the theme reflected more than 15 years of advocacy by his organisation with traders, transport operators and border agencies across West Africa.
“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,” he said.
Mr Hamoui noted that Africa already has several frameworks intended to advance integration, including the Abuja Treaty, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and ECOWAS free movement protocols.
However, he said intra-African trade remains at only about 15 to 16 per cent, while African citizens still require visas for approximately 45 per cent of destinations on the continent.
“We are not seeking another declaration. We are seeking implementation,” he said.
Borderless Alliance is partnering with APN on the Make Africa Borderless Now! movement and the Borderless Africa Agenda 2030, which aims to mobilise signatures for presentation to African Union Heads of State at their Assembly in February 2027.
For AUDA-NEPAD, Mr Adoum said the APD 2027 theme was closely aligned with the African Union’s focus on regional integration and the Single African Air Transport Market.
He noted that African airlines collectively control less than a fifth of the continent’s air transport market, arguing that the continent’s slow progress on integration was not solely a financing issue.
He identified the harmonisation of transport standards, energy transmission technologies and legal frameworks among member states as critical to advancing integration.
Mr Adoum said AUDA-NEPAD would continue working with APN to support countries in aligning their national instruments towards a borderless Africa.
Four pillars for APD 2027
APD 2027 will be structured around four thematic pillars: Move Freely, focusing on aviation, mobility and smart borders; Pay Seamlessly, covering payments, fintech and digital commerce; Connect Africa, focusing on digital infrastructure, telecommunications and artificial intelligence; and Trade More, addressing logistics, trade finance and regional value chains.
The dialogue will also formally launch the Borderless Africa Agenda 2030, centred on two flagship reforms — a visa-free Africa and connected digital payment systems.
The three-day programme will feature a Business and Policy Leaders’ Dialogue on the first two days, culminating in an Outcome Document.
The third day will feature a Presidential and Business Leaders’ Summit, where Heads of State and business leaders are expected to adopt an APD 2027 Action Compact for onward presentation to the African Union Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2027.
APN said preparations are already involving partners including the African Union, AUDA-NEPAD, Borderless Alliance, the African Development Bank (AfDB), Afreximbank, BADEA and the telecommunications sector.
The network is also engaging Ghana’s Ministry of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation ahead of the 2027 dialogue.
