When a Nobel Prize-winning economist recognizes the unification of business law as a driver of economic prosperity, it deserves to be applauded!

In their book Économie du désordre mondial. Comment la géopolitique a tout changé, Jean Tirole, the 2014 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics, and Karine Van Der Straeten identify the establishment of a unified legal framework for businesses as one of the priority reforms needed to restore the European Union’s economic competitiveness.

This recognition is particularly welcome. Economists rarely give the unification of business law the attention it deserves in building an integrated, attractive and prosperous economic area.

Legal certainty, predictability and a unified business law framework are not merely concerns for lawyers. They are fundamental drivers of competitiveness, investment and economic growth.

One can only hope that economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank will draw the appropriate lessons from this analysis when designing their economic policies and recommendations for Africa.

More than thirty years ago, the OHADA member states made the visionary decision to embark on an ambitious process of business law unification, precisely to foster legal certainty, economic integration and investment.

It is high time that this remarkable achievement in African legal integration received the recognition it deserves and was fully embraced as a cornerstone of economic development policies across the continent.

Unifying business law is not just a legal undertaking. It is an economic policy in its own right!