Corridors
Corridors are transport routes around roads, railways and waterways linking production zones, cities, countries and ports. They are where free trade agreements are actually implemented and offer the backbone of regional integration by connecting markets and facilitating trade between countries. They can help goods move faster – and cheaper – across borders, and are particularly important for landlocked countries that rely on access to seaports. Corridors also offer the potential to promote investment and create jobs. Currently, trade policies are often inconsistently applied along corridors, while there are increasing opportunities to apply technology to facilitate trade.
Resources on corridors
The Lobito Corridor: Between European geopolitics and African agency
The Lobito Corridor, connecting the DRC, Zambia and Angola, is often discussed in terms of geopolitical competition – with the EU and the US on one side and China on the other – while African agency is largely overlooked. This paper explores this geopolitical framing as well as the dynamics within and between the corridor countries, ultimately examining which actors and factors determine the corridor’s success and viability.
16 April 2025
Transport infrastructure and intra-African trade: A new empirical evidence
By Moukaila Mouzamilou Takpara, Guivis Zeufack Nkemgha, Stéphane Zouri and Léleng Kebalo, Afreximbank
01 September 2024
Infrastructure, time and labour: movement and suspension along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor
By Elisa Gambino and Ricardo Reboredo for Territory, Politics, Governance.
10 June 2024
Toward a data-driven understanding of trade and transport corridors
By SSATP and World Bank Group.
01 January 2024
Cross-border road corridors - Expanding market access in Africa and nurturing continental integration
By the African Development Bank.
09 November 2023
Lobito Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency Agreement to accelerate cross-border trade through implementation of harmonised transport and trade facilitation instruments
By SADC.
31 January 2023
Actors and interests along the Dakar-Bamako corridor
Trade and transport corridors are increasingly seen as means to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). This paper looks at the Dakar-Bamako corridor to find out what economic and political actors and factors explain trade and transport dynamics in the region.
05 September 2022
Seamless imaginaries, territorialized realities: the regional politics of corridor governance in Southern Africa
Tim Zajontz for Territory, Politics, Governance.
13 July 2022
A political economy analysis of the Nacala and Beira corridors
This political economy analysis shows the complex reality of the transport corridors connecting Malawi to the Mozambican coast.
06 July 2022
On transport corridors: People, profits, politics and patience
Corridors are becoming all the rage – as a priority for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and as a focus of the recently launched EU Global Gateway. Recent research can offer a range of insights into what these actually entail.
04 July 2022
