For many people in East Africa, moving money from Djibouti to Nairobi is still an obstacle course. So is opening an online shop in Addis Ababa for customers in Mogadishu, or getting a digital ID recognised in Juba. That is exactly what the region now wants to change. From 22 to 24 September 2026, the Fairmont Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi hosted delegations from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan. The East African Community (EAC) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) brought them together, with backing from the World Bank and the Kenyan government.
This was no summit of heads of state. Technical experts, regulators and project managers did the work behind closed doors, far from the podium speeches. Their diagnosis was nonetheless blunt. For years, each capital built its own networks, rules and platforms with little thought for its neighbours. The result has been costly cross-border communications, government services that cannot talk to each other, and businesses trapped in their home markets. Participants agreed that the region must « move beyond fragmented national approaches » and build services that cross borders without friction.
Mohyeldeen Eltohami Taha set the tone at the opening. IGAD’s director of economic cooperation and regional integration said that « regional digital integration is closely linked to our broader objective of strengthening regional economic cooperation. » In other words, digital policy is no longer one technical file among many. It is becoming a driver of integration in its own right.
Four priorities came out of the talks. Connectivity comes first, because nothing works without it. Cybersecurity follows, in a region where levels of protection differ sharply from one state to the next. Next is digital public infrastructure, which covers identity, payments and online government services. Cross-border e-commerce completes the list, and it is probably the change the region’s small businesses are waiting for most.
Above all, Nairobi went beyond good intentions. Delegations left with agreed priorities for the 2027 financial year and a regional action agenda. They also adopted a consolidated digital policy matrix under the Horn of Africa Initiative. The EAC and IGAD confirmed their support commitments, each now tied to a named owner and a deadline. In a region used to communiqués that go nowhere, that detail matters.
Two World Bank programmes underpin the effort. The Eastern Africa Regional Digital Integration Project (EARDIP) is meant to lay the foundations of a single digital market. The Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project (KDEAP) supports the host country’s own transformation. Data governance shows how much work lies ahead. According to the EAC, some member states still have no data protection law, while others impose strict local storage rules. Many store their data outside the continent, and regulators often lack the means to enforce the laws that do exist.
The wider context also calls for caution. Even as delegates discussed regional interconnection, fighting resumed in Tigray and the internet was cut there once again. The Nairobi roadmap has the virtue of clarity. Its real test will come in 2027, when the region will need to show cables laid, payments moving smoothly and online sellers finally reaching customers across the border.