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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has selected Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco as the pioneer countries to implement its flagship digital public infrastructure (DPI) programme. The project aims to facilitate a unified continental trade market.

The pilot rollout of the Africa Digital Access and Public Infrastructure for Trade (ADAPT) initiative marks one of the continent’s most ambitious cross-border digital deployments. The programme will integrate secure digital identities, trusted data exchange, and interoperable payment rails to eliminate friction in intra-African commerce.

According to the Secretariat, the three countries were selected following a rigorous two-stage evaluation. The assessment considered national digital maturity alongside political commitment, regulatory alignment, technical capacity, and private-sector engagement.

ADAPT is designed to replace fragmented, paper-based compliance processes with unified digital corridors. By digitising documentation and enabling live cross-border data sharing, the initiative aims to sharply reduce border delays, lower transaction fees, and improve market access for underserved small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Implementation is currently underway. Early phases will focus on establishing national ADAPT Country Implementation Forums, integrating core infrastructure components, and testing regulatory frameworks, including models for digital currencies and stablecoin settlements.

The open-source digital trade infrastructure is built on the "TWIN" interoperability stack. It is being co-designed and rolled out in partnership with global partners, including the World Economic Forum, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and the IOTA Foundation. 

If the pilot succeeds, the framework will serve as a continental blueprint to scale interoperable digital trade across all AfCFTA markets.