VENDREDI 17 DÉCEMBRE 2021 BIZWEEK ÉDITION 373 Visa opennessin Africa 2021 : Country scores and rankings Benin Seychelles The Garnbia Senegal Ghana Rwanda Nigeria Llganda G unea-Bissau Labo Verde Togo Ma u ri tanin Mau rit ius'Mozambique Comoros Madagascar Soin alla Ta riza nia Namibia Sierra Leone Africa Visa Opennes Report 1021 LOW 14GH Ib. SCORE RAN K 1.000 1 1.000 1 1.000 1 0.883 4 Abe LA TOUR Mauritius ranks 13 AFRICA VISA OPENNESS INDEX 2021 Openingup Africa’s borders to travel will drive investment and an economic rebound, according to the authors of the 2021 Africa Visa Openness Index. Published yearly since 2016, the Index measures African countries’openness to travelers from elsewhere on the continent. This year’s edition found that theonset of the Covid-19 pandemic substantially impacted free movement. «In this new era of travel, safety and hygiene protocols have become as important as travel documentation and visa formalities,» said the report, jointly released by the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission on Monday, 13 December 0 Despite the lockdowns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, many African countries continue to signal visa openness to the citizens of other countries on the continent. The top 10 countries’average score on the Africa Visa Openness Index rose to 0.904 from 0.902 in 2020. Benin, The Gambia, and Seychelles continued to offer visa-free access to all Africans. Nonetheless, visa opennessin Africa as a whole dropped slightly over the year. The continent is almost evenly split between countries with a liberal visa policy and countries whose visa policy is more restrictive : 25% of African countries welcome some or all African visitors, visa-free. 24% of African countries allow some or all African visitors to obtain a visa on arrival. 51% of African countries require African visitors to obtain a visa before they arrive. The Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) measures the extent to which African countries are open to visitors from other African countries. The index analyzes each country’s visa requirements to show which countries on the continent facilitate travel to their s s territory. For each country, the AVOI calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before travelling there, the number of countries whose citizens may obtain a visaupon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter. Each country is then assigned a visa openness score and ranked accordingly. Data for this year’s edition was collected between June and July 2021. The main sources of information were the International Air Transport Association and countries’official websites. In the last 18 months, countries across Africa instituted strict travel restrictions to contain the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As infection rates declined, a number of countries began to open their borders safely and securely. The emergence of new variants makes the evolution of this process uncertain, not only in Africa, but around the world. The situation calls for careful planning, grounded in the best evidence and developed in collaboration, not in isolation. «Notwithstanding positive developments over the past five years, reformis still necessary. For the first time since the African Visa Openness Report was 0.875 5 0.868 0.864 7 0,853 8 0.849 9 0.845 10 0.838 11 0.830 12 0.826 13 0.804 14 0.800 15 0.785 16 0185 16 0.679 18 0..623 19 0502 20 published, the data shows that openness levels dropped slightly in 2021, after some governments temporarily reversed their liberal visa regime partly in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and largely to respond to recent instability in their countries. African travelers now require a visa to access just over half of the continent’s countries. Nonetheless, the trends between 2016 and 2021 are heartening. They show that two-thirds of countries in all regions of the continent have improved or maintained their visa openness score over the past five years. At the same time, to facilitate access, 24 African countries now offer an eVisa. The COVID-19 pandemic has given a new impetus to human mobility. Let us capitalize on this silver lining by improving connectivity and embracing technological solutions. An Africa with liberal visa regimes and open borders benefits us all», says Dr. Khaled F. Sherif, Vice-President, Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery at the African Development Bank. However, according to H.E. Dr. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson, African Union Commission, this sixth edition of the Africa Visa Openness Report reveals a real danger of Africa losing the gains in liberal visa policies that the continent has realized over the years. «In 2021, Africans 4 Cont’d on page 5