The Africa Prosperity Network has opened registration for the Africa Prosperity Dialogues 2027, scheduled for January 27–29, 2027, at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, Ghana. The annual forum will focus on implementing continental free movement and digital payment integration across Africa’s single market.
Planning for the fifth edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues is underway as organisers open registration for the high-level continental gathering. The event brings together political leaders, business executives, regulators, and civil society actors to push past policy agreements and tackle the practical hurdles of continental integration. With a theme centred on free movement, seamless payments, and increased trade, the upcoming summit aims to turn long-standing regional commitments into operational realities for businesses and citizens alike.
Shifting From Regional Commitments to Implementation
While African leaders have signed major integration frameworks over the decades—including the Abuja Treaty and the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement—organisers stress that the critical bottleneck remains implementation. Co-Founder of Borderless Alliance Ziad Hamoui emphasized that trade figures and travel restrictions continue to trail the continent’s ambitions.
“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.”
Ziad Hamoui, Co-Founder of Borderless Alliance, via myjoyonline.com
According to figures presented during the launch, intra-African trade accounts for approximately 15 to 16 per cent of total trade, while citizens require visas to travel to about 45 per cent of destinations across the continent. Organisers behind the Africa Prosperity Dialogues argue that young entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises bear the brunt of these persistent administrative, financial, and infrastructural barriers.
Venue Shift and Registration Details for Kempinski Hotel
The 2027 summit moves away from its traditional venue at the Accra International Conference Centre, which is currently closed for refurbishment. Founder and Executive Chairman Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko announced that the event will instead occupy the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra.
Because the Kempinski Conference Hall accommodates roughly 1,000 delegates at a time—a sharp contrast to the 6,400 participants from 94 countries who attended the previous edition—organisers have instituted a strict vetting and pre-registration procedure. Official registration opens on Monday, September 7, 2026. Unlike prior years, attendees will pay registration fees.
Advocating for Visa-Free Travel and Ratification
A core pillar of the Make Africa Borderless Now! campaign is the push for a completely visa-free continent under the AU Free Movement Protocol adopted in 2018. However, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko noted that the protocol lacks legal force because only four nations—Rwanda, Niger, Mali, and São Tomé and Príncipe—have completed ratification, falling well short of the 15 member states required.
“As we speak, only four countries have ratified that protocol, and Ghana is not part of it.”
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, via Ghanaian Times
Organisers are betting that upcoming regional leadership changes will accelerate political will. The network is leveraging Ghana’s Head of State becoming Chairman of the African Union to intensify advocacy for ratification. This strategic positioning comes just weeks before the 40th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Digital Payments and the 2027 Interoperability Deadline
Beyond travel restrictions, the forum targets financial friction through the Borderless Africa Agenda 2030, focusing heavily on connected digital payment systems and mobile money interoperability. Following outcomes from prior dialogues, regional economic bodies endorsed a commitment to establish a continent-wide mobile money interoperability framework by 2027, aligning with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System.
The three-day program structures its discussions around four core pillars: moving freely via aviation and smart borders, paying seamlessly through fintech and digital commerce, connecting Africa via telecommunications, and trading more through regional value chains. As delegates prepare to convene in Accra, the central question remains whether participating governments will translate these structured dialogues into enforceable national ratifications before the continental targets arrive.
