At the meeting of the Council of Ministers on 7 January 2026, the Malian authorities examined the progress of the project of economic development of the Confederation of Sahel States. They are considering Accelerate economic integration in order to better exploit the potential regional and to stimulate intra-confederal growth.

AES faces weak trade trade between Sahelian countries. In fact, the development project Economic initiative of the Confederation of Sahel States is a regional initiative uniting Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Its aim is to strengthen integration economic situation between the three countries, in a context marked by the weakness of intra-regional exchanges.

According to international sources, the trade between African countries remains limited. The Report on the African Trade 2024 from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) mentions that intra-African trade represented around 15 % of the continent's total exports in 2023, a much lower level to that observed in other regions of the world, especially in Europe (nearly 68 %) and in Asia (around 59%).