African leaders plan to turn the continent into one without borders with the planned introduction of a single passport allowing free movement between countries.

The idea has been modelled on the controversial EU Schengen free movement deal, which has abolished many internal borders to enable passport-free movement across the bloc.

The African Union (AU), which represents 54 African states, wants to abolish the need for Africans visiting African counties to require a visa by 2018 and to establish a free trade across the continent by 2017, as intra-African trade costs more than any other region.

“The specific aim [of the passport is] facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent – in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development,” the AU said in a statement.

The chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Nkosazna Dlaimini Zuma, said the innovation was a “steady step toward the objective of creating a strong, prosperous and integrated Africa, driven by its own citizens.

“It is up to all of us to hold our countries to that decision so that indeed Africans can move freely among other African countries.”

Heads of state from across Africa will be the first to pilot the new electronic African Union passport, ahead of the African Union Summit in Rwanda in July.