Africa’s regional integration has been a key economic and political aspiration since the independence decade of the 1960s – some 50 years ago. It is also an important pillar for the work of the African Development Bank, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary as Africa’s premier development finance institution during 2014. It is thus opportune for the African Development Report 2014 to once again reexamine the imperative of regional integration for Africa’s development: looking at what has changed in terms of argument and facts on the ground in the past half century, and to what extent the pursuit of closer economic and political integration is still relevant for the continent. The Report comprises six chapters that discuss the relevance of regional integration in a changed global context; the importance and role of regional economic communities; the impact of regional infrastructure; the implications of the interregional migration of factors of production, notably labour; regional financial integration and the platforms required to raise its impact on regional commerce and economic growth; and how best to link Africa to global production and trade through regional value chains.