{"id":35647,"date":"2026-05-27T19:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=35647"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:35:37","slug":"congo-to-introduce-visa-free-entry-for-africans","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/congo-to-introduce-visa-free-entry-for-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"Republic of Congo to introduce visa-free entry for Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The African Development Bank Group has welcomed the Republic of Congo\u2019s decision to grant visa-free entry to all African passport holders from next year, describing the move as a significant boost for continental integration and economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Denis Sassou\u00a0 announced the policy during the bank\u2019s annual meetings, which are currently underway in Brazzaville.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Republic of Congo joins a growing number of African countries easing travel restrictions for fellow Africans in support of regional mobility and trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework. Supporters of free movement argue that reducing visa barriers could help unlock investment, strengthen skills transfer, and deepen economic integration across the continent, despite resistance in some countries.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the bank\u2019s latest industrialisation index shows Morocco overtaking South Africa (SA) as Africa\u2019s leading industrial economy, although SA remains one of the continent\u2019s major economic powers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23917,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-35647","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"African Development Bank Group has welcomed the Republic of Congo\u2019s decision to grant visa-free entry to all African passport holders from next year","published_date":"2026-05-27 18:37:31","news_description":"African Development Bank Group has welcomed the Republic of Congo\u2019s decision to grant visa-free entry to all African passport holders from next year","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35650,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35647\/revisions\/35650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}