The ideal of a thriving Africa, where the material and social conditions of life of its various peoples are not dependent on external assistance, effectively depends on the development of a sustainable and equitable continental economy, based on intra-continental trade in manufactures and services. This Pan-African approach to development on the continent is the essence of Nkrumah’s assertion dating back to the late 1950s, and presently the basic rationale of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), an initiative of the Africa Union that advances the objective of continental economic integration. This is important for a continent which at present heavily relies on primary production and is vulnerable to numerous external shocks, to the detriment of human wellbeing.