The instruments of arbitration and special economic zones aim to create an ecosystem that makes it attractive for companies to position themselves in Africa by becoming fully integrated in value chains. We can therefore call them real accelerators of the African economy’. This was the most significant passage of Eugenio Bettella’s speech at the annual meeting organised by AfricaAffari to present the political and economic prospects of the African continent for the year that has just begun. At the headquarters of the Italian Geographic Society, in Rome, on January 27, institutional representatives and experts on Africa took turns analysing the challenges but also the new opportunities that will stand out on the continent’s agenda in 2023.