Migration policy framework for Africa and plan of action (2018 – 2030) 4. Global and continental efforts to manage migration Globally, and in Africa, the significant and multifaceted contribution that migration can make to development has gained greater recognition. With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, and explicit references to migration in 6 of its 17 goals, migration was mainstreamed into global development policy. The world has come together to actualise the targets of Agenda 2030 through the GCM process, to which Africa is contributing through the development of the Common African Position. Enhancing safe, orderly and regular migration; remittances; and decent work and labour migration are important priorities that are being promoted by these initiatives. The AU launched Africa’s development strategy for the next half century, with the adoption of Agenda 2063, which aspires to an integrated and politically united Africa, and calls for the free movement of people, capital, goods and services. Continental economic integration, which builds on the work of the RECs, and the implementation of their free movement of persons protocols, should be consolidated through the implementation of the AU Free Movement of Persons Protocol and the Continental Free Trade Area, which will serve as legal instruments for managing migration and mobility on the continent. Cross border trade and development is hampered by Africa’s stringent visa regimes, which are expected to be liberalised incrementally through the implementation of the AU Free 24 Movement of Persons Protocol. Migration and mobility, within the context of Africa’s integration, will play a key role in unleashing the continent’s growth potential. Economic integration is a key pathway to development and demands labour mobility and other forms of economic engagement that necessitate the movement of persons. The drive for the continental free movement of persons originates from the Organisation for African (OAU) Unity Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, 1980 – 2000, which calls for the establishment of an African Common Market, which by definition allows for the free movement of factors of production, including labour. The Abuja Treaty set out a path for the achievement of the African Economic Community (AEC) through successive stages that would harmonise and integrate existing and future RECs that constitute the building blocks of the AEC. During the fifth stage an African common market would be established, which would provide for the free movement of persons, and the rights of residence and establishment. The gradual removal of the obstacles to the free of movement of persons among Member States is listed in Article 4 of the Treaty as important for achieving the objectives of the Community, which include economic development and the integration of African economies. Agenda 2063 advocates for the free movement of people as part of the continental integration agenda. Free