Abbreviations and acronyms

4IR

Fourth Industrial Revolution

ACBF

African Capacity Building Foundation

AfCFTA

African Continental Free Trade Area

AI

Artificial intelligence

AU

African Union

AUC

African Union Commission

AUDA-NEPAD

African Union Development Agency

CEMAC

Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa

COMESA

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

DAC

Development Assistance Committee

DAT

Disruptive agricultural technology

DE4A

Digital Economy for Africa

EAC

East African Community

ECCAS

Economic Community of Central African States

ECOWAS

Economic Community of West African States

EU

European Union

FDI

Foreign direct investment

Fintech

Financial technology

GDP

Gross domestic product

GDPR

General data protection regulation

GIZ

Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Corporation for International Cooperation)

GNI

Gross national income

GSMA

Global System for Mobile Communications Association

GVC

Global value chain

H2M

Human-to-machine

HIPC

Heavily indebted poor countries

IBRD

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

ICT

Information and communications technology

IFC

International Finance Corporation

ILO

International Labour Organization

IMF

International Monetary Fund

IoT

Internet of things

IP

Intellectual property

ISP

Internet service provider

IT

Information technology

IXP

Internet exchange point

LAC

Latin America and the Caribbean

LDC

Least developed country

M2M

Machine-to-machine

MSME

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprise

ODA

Official development assistance

OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

P2P

Person-to-person

PIDA

Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa

PPP

Public-private partnership

PRIDA

Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa

REC

Regional Economic Community

SACU

Southern African Customs Union

SADC

Southern African Development Community

SEZ

Special economic zone

SME

Small and medium-sized enterprise

STEM

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics

STI

Science, technology and innovation

SWAC

Sahel and West Africa Club

Telco

Telecommunication company

TVET

Technical and vocational education and training

UNCTAD

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNDESA

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

UNECA

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

VAT

Value-added tax

VC

Venture capital

WAEMU

West African Economic and Monetary Union

WEF

World Economic Forum

WTO

World Trade Organization