Regional Integration, Trade and Sustainable Competitiveness

Projects

Team

Joël CARIOLLE
Research Officer at FERDI,
Research Associate at CERDI
Jaime DE MELO
Scientific Advisor, FERDI
Emeritus Professor, University of Geneva
CEPR Fellow
Audrey-Anne DE UBEDA
Coordinator of research programs, FERDI
Patrick GUILLAUMONT
President, FERDI
Sylviane GUILLAUMONT JEANNENEY
Special Advisor, FERDI
Professor Emeritus, Université Clermont Auvergne
Former member of the Board of the Agence française de développement (AFD)
Florian LÉON
Research Officer, FERDI
Head of training programmes at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainable Development (IHEDD–FERDI)
Édouard MIEN
Research Officer, FERDI
Patrick PLANE
Emeritus Research Director in Economics, CERDI–CNRS
Head of the Sustainable Competitiveness Observatory at FERDI

Regional Integration, Trade and Sustainable Competitiveness

222
Publications
3
Data
101
Events
40
Blogs
26
Press review

FERDI analyses the macroeconomic and sectoral drivers of regional integration, competitiveness and productive transformation in Africa. Its work is carried out in close collaboration with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).

Objectives

↪ Analyse the determinants of competitiveness and productive transformation in African economies, within a context of regional integration and global openness.

↪ Support regional institutions (UEMOA, CEMAC) in the design, monitoring and evaluation of their economic policies.

↪ Assess the impact of economic policies (fiscal, trade, agricultural and digital) on growth, employment and economic resilience.

↪ Contribute to a better understanding of the conditions for African countries’ integration into global value chains.

Tools, data and technical expertise

In 2025–26:

In support of WAEMU, publication of a series of reports on vulnerability and resilience in the region, food security in member states, rural transformation through digitalisation, youth employment in rural areas, fiscal capacity, fiscal disparities, and environmental taxation.
In support of CEMAC, contribution to the operational launch of the CEMAC Business Climate Observatory and support to the Commission’s work on the creation of a multilateral stabilisation fund aimed at smoothing the use of oil revenues and strengthening the countercyclical role of fiscal policies in the sub-region.
Ongoing update and restructuring of the databases of the Observatory of Sustainable Competitiveness.

Intellectual output and research

In 2025–26:

↪ Research on exchange rates and value chains, including publications by Patrick Plane et al. in Review of World Economics and The World Economy

↪ Book by Jaime de Melo (2025) Essays on Africa’s Integration: Prospects and Challenges for Markets and Regional Public Goods, examining the economic conditions required for the viability of regional integration projects