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Tag: intra-African

  • Intra -African Trade Fair of hope

    The African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank’s) sponsored Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Cairo, Egypt attracted numerous exhibitors from Nigeria, largely sponsored by the Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). Group Business Editor SIMEON EBULU, who was at the fair, reports.

    An affable designer of children’s wears (Zucchini) from Ibadan, Olubunmi Olalekan, was quite excited about the fair, saying it’s a beautiful thing that has given her tremendous exposure. She spoke on her design style, fabrics and the support from the Bank of Industry.

    On her startup, she said: “I used to import children’s clothes and sell (laughs), but along the line, I know that I wanted more than just import and sell for someone. And there was something in my head that was like – can we create something like this for children. I met with someone in Ibadan and I told her I wanted to learn just children clothing, and she said she had never seen somebody that would just learn children’s clothes. So, I kept looking for opportunities to learn just children clothes. Then I got somebody who taught me. I went for some courses at the Ibadan Fashion College, but it was online, so I got some textbooks and it opened my eyes to several opportunities in children clothing that we do not even know about.

    “At a point, the exchange rate was so high that people that wanted to import could not, so they started looking for local designers to get clothes for their children for Christmas, and that was the breaking point. So many people saw opportunities in it. I have staff and two people I consult to design, because sometimes it is different for you to have the idea and also transform it. I have someone I consult for in fabrics. And another mistake I made before was that the adire that we made then, the colours were dull and children clothing should be bright, full  of life. So right now, I have been able to overcome that; now we have colourful designs of adire.

    On materials’ sourcing, Olubunmi has this to say: “I have someone who does my adire in Ibadan. There is another one in Abeokuta; she learnt from the polytechnic in Ibadan. I have six  staff, and now we are fully into children clothing. We also train children because of my daughter.  I learnt something from her and it is workable. I have been trying to do that. She used to see me make clothings and now she makes clothes and she is just nine. As a matter of fact, there was a particular one she made for me and that really got me thinking, so now we do training for children’’.

    When you said your daughter made it for you, did she give you the concept or she made it herself? The Nation asked.

    Olubunmi, who cuts and  uses the machine, Olubunmi, said she got an award. ‘’There was a particular one she got from the Oyo State government. Her name is Ayomide. As many kids as are interested, I train them, at the same time, I try as much as possible to consider child labour, because I tell the parents that I don’t teach children without the parents’ consent and I insist that it doesn’t affect their education because that is paramount,’’she said.

    On how she encountered BoI, she said: “I went to them, because I was using an apartment and there was more demands and then I was trying to save for some machinery, so I went to them. They believed in what I was doing and they financed the business with N4.2million. I got machinery because they were paramount. There  were some designs that I couldn’t make. There is something we call snap-button. I couldn’t make it. All those things, I got machines enough that gave me assurance that I could handle any design given my jurisdiction of production, then I got fabrics so that if I have orders, I can supply.”

    She said the loan was being drawn down because she had enough outlets.  Her words: “Right now, there will not be any issue because I try as much as possible to look for schools that I would supply and stores. So, I got two stores, and some schools. What I have been doing is, when I supply the stores they usually give me part payment, then the schools, I usually do sport wears for them, they pay me when I supply. And I still take orders from individuals.”

    Olubunmi said she was looking forward to harnessing the global market from the Intra-African Trade Fair thus:  “Yes, possibly stores across Africa and beyond; at least we have the capacity and we are hopeful that some stores will like our designs and we will supply them,” adding, ” hopefully that will also help.”

    Another participant, Ezechukwu Nze  of Venerate Global Resources, said his presence at the fair was worth it. “What we are enjoying here in Egypt, their hospitality is something to write home about, but the fair in the real sense is not encouraging. “We are here to get customers, get clear contacts so that we can send products, get a representative here in Cairo, but the turn-up is so low. They don’t even know if the Nigerian market exists. We are not encouraged by the Egyptians, or maybe they were not well sensitised or the information circulated was poorly done,’’ he said. `

    Another exhibitor, Mrs. Bolanle Taiwo of Ways Creation Nigeria Limited, with headquarters in Abeokuta and a showroom  at Isaac Jones Street, Lagos, said the fair was gathering momentum. “I think we are getting there. People are coming and asking about designs and they are making enquiries about source and location and some are interested in being customers. Generally, we are entering  relationships with some of the people. ‘’

    When asked if she thought her coming was worth it, her response was: “Yeah, I think it is worth it.

    On the number of deals concluded,  she said: ” Well I will say three or four deals. We have exchanged contacts and are ready to work online and deliver it to them.”

    Hon. Salome Fatimah Lawal  Dakotu, from Niger State, said:  “I am the Coordinator for QBWA. My experience here is that I have met with other producers and market people and I have also tried to get in touch, especially in areas where there is need for products common to my area. We are trying to have a linkage whereby we can supply them with some of these.’’

    On the level of patronage, she said: “Well, the patronage is not much from the people from this area. The only thing they come to ask about is these (beads). Our concept is to use it as beads, but here, I doubt they have that interest. They love to use it as prayer rosary. If we knew, we would have prepared it in their area of interest and maybe by now, we would have finished selling.”

    Ebun Ayodele said: ” I represent Female Nigeria Limited. My impression about the exhibition is that it is a good innovation and it is something that will take us forward in so many directions, especially for my own manufacturing area of Fast Food packaging. I am the only lady here with this innovation. And I have gathered quite a lot which will go home with me and will help my business and Nigeria as a whole. I feel really proud to be here.

    ‘’The response here has indeed been incredible. A lot of the Egyptians, who have visited us, have exclaimed about how they have tried to make this product without success. A lot of them have come with propositions for export to nearby countries to Egypt, and that is good consideration for me.’’

    On how she intends to export to Egypt, Ebun said: “We would have to sit down and plan because I do not know the rules on how to deliver to them. Those areas have to be ironed out. Then again it is an encouragement to know that people appreciate you to such an extent of wanting to do business with you.”

    On producing to specification, Ebun, who said she was sponsored by the Bank of Industry (BoI),  had this to say: “Nobody has mentioned anything about specification. These are the areas I mentioned and we are going to do together. We would have to manufacture to their own specification and we are going to look at their laws and the demand, including all other logistics.”

    Regarding her workforce, she said  at the manufacturing site, “We have 40 to 42, adding: “But at our head office at Ilupeju, Lagos, we have about 12 staff.”

    The Managing Director/CEO, Denki Wire and Cable Nigeria Limited, Emmanuel Adewumi based in Akure, Ondo State, a foremost cable manufacturer, in Nigeria, gives his impression on the fair: “As far as I am concerned, I am impressed because of the exposure given by BoI. We have come to see what people do and what is expected of us. And with this Intra- Africa Trade Fair, if it works well, there will be a lot of cross fertilisation. I have met with so many people who are interested in bringing raw materials and products, as well as receiving my products. If this trade fair functions well, I think there will be rapid development in Africa. That is my candid opinion. A situation that you have something in Egypt and yet you go to China to get, it is not worth it.”

    On the viability of the fair, Adewunmi said: “It is worth it. I like the way BoI has exposed its customers but I still believe that more customers should attend this forum. As the next is biennial, I hope a better arrangement is done than what we have here today. There is something very strange I want to tell you, you can ask from anybody. The only product that is produced in Nigeria where it is preferred to imported products, is wire cable. Ask your electricians. This is a glory to the country. It is the way we were brought up. From the onset, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria monitors you and ensures you attain perfection.’’

    On challenges encountered in coming to Cairo, Adewunmi said: ‘’BoI wrote to me and I told them as a CEO, I cannot attend the event alone. I had to sponsor some of my members of staff. Still, we thank BoI for what they did.”

    Emma Afeckuro Nnaeto, the Marketing Manager of Cobelf International Limited, based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said: ‘’We are into manufacturing of materials. We make PVC pipes from 20mm to 600mm; we make HDP pipes from 20mm to 600mm; we manufacture also for MTN. We are here to search for a wider market. Though we have customers in Sierra Leone, we have to expand our market to the Northern part of Africa.’’ He said they were at the event on self-sponsorship.

    Kishin Murjani, the Managing Director of Biomedical Limited, Ilorin, added: “It is a well-organised trade fair especially for Nigeria. because the focus has been on us, Nigerian customers of BoI. It is a good exposure because we have got enquiries from Russia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq on this product we have here. This product is very safe because you might have seen us working with a needle. No need to puncture the drip with a needle. The uniqueness of this product is that the drip will flow by itself and it is safer because when air is introduced, the drip is subject to contamination. The product offers doctors an option to inject any other medication along with the drip. This product is made in Nigeria.”

  • ‘Intra-African trade needs proper definition for effectiveness’

    Trade liberalisation within African countries has been on the front burner for a while. At the just-concluded Intra-African Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) President and Executive Director, Stakeholder Management and Coporate Communications, Dangote Industries Limited, Mansur Ahmed gave reasons the initiative should be supported by African leaders if the continent is to become an economic power house. Group Business Editor SIMEON EBULU was there.

    You have traversed various sectors of the economy. What has it been like?

    It’s been very interesting, sometimes a bit frustrating, sometimes inspiring. I started from the mid- sector – that’s the academy moved to the business sector, then to the public sector and the private sector; then the public sector and then back to the private sector. It’s been quite interesting to see the various facets and dimensions of the economy and the politics and to see all the great opportunities we have missed and the great potential we are yet to realise.

    You talked about missed opportunities. What are some of them?

    We can recall that in the late 1990s, we started an exercise on envisioning a new Nigeria. That was called Vision 2010. It looked at Nigeria in the medium term setting 2010 as a sort of target. It was a tremendous opportunity to begin a transformation, to begin a nation building process. Many Nigerians across all sectors and all cadres participated.

    I remember there were probably close to 300 participants on that exercise led by variably seniors public and private sector leaders and over a period of about a year, the team drew a vision for Nigeria, which addressed most of the key issues Nigerians are still facing. Unfortunately, that was the first missed opportunity because the document was completed in 1997 and handed over to the head of state then, General Abubakar Abusalam (rtd).

    But he obviously didn’t have much time because of the transition programme to civilian rule. But when the new government settled in, we didn’t know what happened, apparently the document was just laid aside and so we missed a great opportunity to begin a nation building that I think by now would have placed us well close to the targeted destination.

    The Vision 2010 document included looking at building a united democratic harmonious nation driven by the economy, by the private sector, with the public sector acting as the facilitator and the enabler. I think if we had done that by now, we would have a great economy. Certainly, that vision is still the vision and that’s the missed opportunity I’m talking about. We’ve tried other things; we’ve tried NEEDS; Vision 20:2020 and now we trying the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). Now the interesting thing, to me, is that all these exercises and subsequent ones, to a large extent, are inspirations from that Vision 2020.

    As an operator in the private sector, what  are your major challenges in the Dangote Group going by your submissions?

    The big challenges for Dangote Group and indeed for the business sector, generally, is that our economy is still  not sufficiently conducive for rapid investment and private sector group. To me, the public sector plays too much dominant role in economic liaison and many of the efforts being made to move the economy forward, to create opportunities for growth, particularly growth that is inclusive, tends to be stunted by the fact that the public sector seems to lead the process, control the process, embrace the process in a way that there is no enough room for the private sector to operate and to really exploit the private sector capacity and the private sector initiative.

    Dangote Group seems to have overcome these constraints because it is the biggest investor in the country’s economy. How was this achieved?

    To be honest, I think we have to admit that Dangote Group, particularly the President, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is a unique man. Where most people see challenges, he sees opportunities and unlike many investors he is not held back by a sense of impairment; he moves despite the challenges; he invests despite what other investors will see as monumental incapacities to investment and I think that is why he has uniquely been able to do a lot of the things he has been doing.

    Dangote Petro-chemical presents a veritable platform to achieving the intra-African trade initiative. How have you been able to capitalise on this to espouse the opportunities that can come out from that industry, even if it has not been fully completed?

    The process is just starting. The petrochemical industry is like a mother industry; it creates opportunities for a lot of other downstream industries to grow and, certainly, it creates opportunities for a lot of other business. It links with other substances, so what we are doing is basically setting the basic industry or hub as it were to refine chemical products, fertiliser and gas.

    Those are the things that feed so many industries; fertiliser feeds the agricultural industries; petrochemical feeds a lot of downstream industries like the plastic industries; pharmaceuticals and many other industries that use either the output or the iutput of the industries. So, our approach is to create this hub and as we do, we expect that investors who are watching on the downstream will open to us and, perhaps, on the interrelated industries for instance, agriculture, we want to acquire not only the fertiliser, but plastic, bagging industries for packaging.

    This is the first intra-Africa trade and exhibition. What opportunities can your organisation get leveraging this platform?

    I think for Nigeria, it is important that we are able to recognise what this kind of cross border and international trade requires. It is also important for each country to really understand what it wants to get out of it and to prepare itself to focus on those opportunities that it can create for its economy and also to make sure that it works with its business sector with the private sector to ensure that those opportunities are realised because at the end of the day trade does not happen between countries, it happens between business, between people. The role of the government is to facilitate, to create conducive environment where trade happens. That means ensuring your legal and regulatory environment is trade friendly; that means that your operatives of the economy, your regulators and administrators, understand their role and play that role well. There is a strong partnership or collaboration between the business sector and public sector aimed at achieving the goals of the economy, particularly with regards to trading with other countries. We need to understand what we’re going into, what opportunities exist, what risks exist because there are no opportunities without risks and, therefore, we need to be prepared to be in a position to mitigate the risks and to exploit opportunities.

    What constraints do you foresee for Africa coming together? How do you see your competitors or other nations where your firm operates resisting your entry?

    We are happy where we see opportunities to invest in other foreign countries or to trade with partners in other countries and we see tremendous opportunities in this.

    If we take cement as an example, this is the area that we have built significant competence and ability to produce high quality cement at very low price. We know that the base element, the basic input for cement is limestone.

    Nigeria has tremendous limestone deposit and we are using that to create the largest cement industry in Africa. Today, we are the largest African producer of cement. And, so naturally, if the system works, if the trade relationship works, it will work to our advantage. It will also give us the opportunity to invest in our country.

    So, apart from free trade, we also want to see an environment for easier investment so that we can go and invest in those countries that we see opportunities where there are limestone and they have demands which is not being met.

    So, this openness creates a lot of opportunities for us in that spectrum. I think that out of the legacy of colonialism, certain countries have taken control of some of our sister countries in Africa and their business sectors, their industrial sectors have been taken over.

    So, even when we try to invest in other countries, we see a lot of push back, most of it is generated by these competitors who are not essentially indigenous investors. We are not worried about the competition. What we are concerned about is when certain incentives are allowed through this businesses or when hurdles are placed in our way to exploiting those opportunities.

    This is why we keep saying that if African free trade agreements work, the first focus of our government must be to ensure we have a regulatory environment that is fair and equitable. We have a regulated environment that works based on agreed rules of the game not based on some unacceptable  practices.

    Now there are others, like infrastructure. Where you lack good transport infrastructure, trade suffers because the cost of your product is simply raised significantly high and this is common across the region. Transport infrastructure in the whole of Africa is extremely important and it aids a huge cost to products delivered. There are people who think up to about 35 percent addition of cost is settled by African businessmen within their organisation as regards transportation.

    Does your organisation have or feel any responsibility to help other businesses become like it? Do you have any plans on mentoring?

    Nobody goes out to grow their competitor; that is certain. But we are happy to create opportunities for up and coming small businesses and that is why we are very supportive of the small and medium scale enterprises so that they can also grow because if they grow then we make our own business easier because then we can now focus and not have to do a lot of the small things that others can do.

    Yes, we are very committed to working with the small and medium industry sector to provide strong linkages between the small medium industry sector and the large industry sector and this is something that also the government ought to do more seriously.

    A lot of people complain that a lot of the intra-Africa trade is informal. This is certainly true in the West Africa zone, but I feel that people who trade informally do so because the constraint of formal trade is beyond them, so they will not be able to break through all the barriers.

    Thank God the government has set up a committee, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and it is trying off course in the economy and again our problem has always been sustainability; you’ll start something and then there’s a change of government and leadership.

    What is the experience of Dangote Group in the free movement of goods and persons within the continent?

    Our President, Aliko Dangote, in particular, has been probably the loudest opponent of this arrangement whereby African countries can’t seem to allow ease of movement even at levels that it is obvious will be of advantage to both countries. I think it is obvious he has made a lot of progress because even this visa on arrival used to be non-existent, if you want to go to Kenya or Zimbabwe, you will spend three weeks waiting for visa, but today at least thank God it’s getting better.

    If we are going to really integrate our economies, we have to allow movement of talents across the border easily, particularly if you are investing newly in a country outside your own, you would want the opportunity, at least at some level to make some of your own people to go there so that you can transfer whatever experiences and knowledge that you need.

    It’s even worse with regards to goods because even if you take West Africa for example, which has the ECOWAS liberalisation trade scheme, allowing for the movement of goods without much hustle, what we know is that today, if we are moving goods across our countries from Nigeria to Benin Republic, to Togo, to Ghana, the headache is enormous and most of this headache is not because the rules of the game are set to create a headache, but because the people who execute those rules, unfortunately, see themselves in a total different light.

    The regulators are men of our country that see themselves more as gatekeepers rather than as enablers and facilitators. But, particularly for trade and investment, the role of the government is to nurture, facilitate, encourage. It is saddening that when you go to apply for that visa or that permit to establish your business you’ll find out the regulators tend to see themselves as gatekeepers.

    So, that’s the kind of attitudinal change that has to happen if trade and investment is to flow across Africa. If you travel around Europe, you can pass six borders without knowing that you’ve passed any border, all you need is your ID card or your small chip, you’ll just put it against the little window and you pass.

    The 2019 budget has been presented to the National Assembly? How well has the manufacturing sector benefited from government policy this year and what is your advice on moving forward?

    The manufacturing sector, in particular, derives the greatest benefit from three perspectives. First from continuing investment on the infrastructure: road, rail, telecoms.

    These are all vital to efficient manufacturing, particularly efficient business in manufacturing. Infrastructural services are so vital to successful investment and so we look at the budget and see how much will be going into infrastructure and then we can say we are moving in the right direction.

    The second perspective is the other end of our business. We produce to sell, so we want to see actions being taken by the government which puts more money in the hands of the individual because if you increase the buying power, then off course our market will grow.

    The third element is to look at the monetary and the physical policies and see how to these adapt or aid our business.

    Take monetary policy for instance, stability in exchange rate is very bad. For many reasons, our manufacturing sector is heavily dependent on imported input, raw materials, component, spare parts, machinery, everything. A huge dependency on importation and, therefore, we want to make sure that the foreign exchange is stable. So, every time the dollar go up, it means our import cost increases and we may not have the capacity to increase our prices; so profitability diminishes.

    Any budget that introduces new structures on foreign exchange will be negative but any budget that puts more money in the hands on the population will be positive. So, that’s the sort of thing we are looking at in any budget, of course we are not just looking at the cost, but we are also looking at the specifics because some of those constraints are more argent than others.

    For instance, if you look at the total expenditure on infrastructure we want to see significant progress on the rail and the road distribution on the reports because those are the things that create the biggest impediment to the success of the operations.

    We are engaging the government; we are engaging the National Assembly. The last budget to be concluded has made tremendous progress in terms of increase investment in the infrastructure side and we hope that this budget will sustain that of the investment side.

  • Intra-African fair trade deals hit over $30b

    Over $30 billion trade deals were wrapped up at the close of the first Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), yesterday in Cairo, Egypt,  African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank),   has said.

    Its President, Prof Benedict Oramah, who spoke at the closing session of the IATF, said the success recorded, has reinforced the bank’s projection that intra-African trade can be developed to attain about 52 per cent from its current level of 15 per cent. The projected trade value could also reach between $170 billion and $250billion by year 2021.

    He said the fair, organised by Afreximbank, has served as a vehicle and an avenue for the bank to achieve its objective of driving intra-African business deals. According to him, it has given the bank the opportunity to recognise its capabilities, share experiences on trade and investment issues, as well as understand the peculiarities that exist in the African Union (AU), and work with other countries to actualise the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.

    Oramah, whose closing remarks was witnessed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairman of the IATF Advisory Council, the Commissioner, Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission, Albert Muchanga, the Chief Executive Officer, Export Development Authority, Egypt, Mrs. Sherine El Shorbagi and Rwandan Ambassador to Egypt, Sherish Saleh Habinana,  host country of the next IATF in Kigali, in 2020, said  Afreximbank has opened a Virtual Trade Fair online for buyers and sellers, saying  the “platform will continue beyond the fair to the next one in Kigali.”

    In his opening remarks, Obasanjo urged Africans to put behind what he called the blame game and move forward.

    He said: “We need a change of culture and belief, we must believe in Africa and what Africans can do. There will be challenges, but with this trade fair, we have identified them.

    “Let us come to the end of the blame game, let us leave slave trade, neocolonialism, let us put them behind, let us wake up. I want Africa to play a full part in the regional trade value chain, to be respectable producers and enhance our dignity.

    “Let us work together, so we can swim together. There is no pride in poverty, but there’s respect in prosperity and power.”

    Obasanjo said the continental fair has “delivered what it was intended to do and has provided a stage for importers and exporters to meet; it has seen business deals discussed and signed, and has enhanced and driven inter-African trade,” saying that all those who have driven this enterprise should be commended.

    Muchanga said the African Union Commission will ensure that before the next IATF in Kigali, trade barriers that attended the Egyptian fair, including difficulties experienced in clearing exhibitors’ goods and hurdles in obtaining entry visas, would have been addressed.

  • Afreximbank: AfCTA boosting intra-African trade, empowering economies

    The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has said that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA) will promote intra-African trade and promote economic empowerment for the people.

    According to the lender, the AfCTA agreement will create more room for African countries to gain from their areas of comparative advantage and stimulate economic growth.

    The bank’s Director and Global Head Communications and Event Management,  Obi Emekekwue, who spoke during  a two-day media workshop on structured trade finance held in Casablanca, Morocco, at the weekend, explained  that the pact when fully operational, would commit African economies to the removal of trade barriers on imports.

    The programme was opportunity for the bank to educate the media participants on gains of structured trade finance and other issues relating to media practice and business reporting.

    Emekekwue said: “Consumers will benefit by being able to consume a larger variety of African products in the single market. These supply and demand effects together engender welfare gains in the form of consumer surpluses in importing African countries”.

    In addition, he said manufacturers in importing countries would also gain through declining production cost.

    “This may improve the competitiveness of domestic producers and enable African economies to integrate into global value chains,” he said.

    According to him, implementing the AfCTA has the potential to enhance efficiency of African firms, may result to structural transformation as skills and technology of African countries’ exports improves.

    Emekekwue, said, “43 per cent of goods traded within Africa are manufactured products. In addition, the technology content of intra-African trade exceeds that of African trade with the rest of the world (UNCTAD 2018).

    “Medium- and high-technology manufactures comprise 25.4 per cent and 14.1 per cent of trade within Africa.

    “Intra-African trade also has a higher industrial content than African countries’ trade with the rest of the world.”

    He said beside the cost advantages, the AfCTA would allow African domestic firms to access a 1.2 billion strong market (including a growing middle class) and thus to benefit from economies of scale.

    He noted that expanding markets offer opportunities to develop regional value chains capable of enhancing diversification and competitiveness, consolidate and integrate production infrastructure and processes across borders.

  • Afreximbank names leaders in intra-African trade

    Afreximbank names leaders in intra-African trade

    Egypt could be a front runner in transforming intra-African trade and boosting innovation and industrialisation on the African continent, the Managing Director of the Intra-African Trade Initiative at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Kanayo Awani, has said

    Speaking during the opening of a one-day workshop on intra-African trade, organised by Afreximbank, in Cairo, she said despite current low trade figures, opportunities abounded and there were many areas in which Egypt could expand its trade with the rest of Africa.

    “With the new significant policy shift toward export promotion, especially within Africa, and capitalizing on regional trade agreements, like the upcoming Continental Free Trade Area, an improved and dedicated shipping line from Sokhna Port to Mombasa, quality and competitive Egyptian products and services, Egypt can transform its trade with Africa and become a major trade partner,” she stated.

    Egypt could expand its export trade in textiles, electricity, utilities and construction services, said Ms. Awani, who added that there were opportunities to boost pharmaceuticals exports to Nigeria, and furniture to Kenya, as well as to import beef from Sudan and fruits and vegetables from East Africa.

    The Managing Director said that Afreximbank had engaged with Egyptian businesses over the last year in order to address their trade finance needs and to identify the trade facilitation issues they faced as they tried to expand into existing African markets or to enter new ones.

    She explained that the Bank decided to organise the workshop in order to respond to some of the concerns that had been expressed by the businesses and to share some of the Bank’s interventions that responded directly to the issues raised.

  • ECA: address infrastructure gap to boost intra-African trade

    The United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has reiterated the need to address limited connectivity within Africa to boost intra-African trade.

    The body said this position at the just-concluded Aid for Trade Global Review at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, according to ECA’s statement.

    ECA Capacity Development Division Director, Mr.  Stephen Karingi, emphasised the need to boost intra-African trade, which currently stands at a mere 13 percent of the continent’s total trade.

    Karinga  canvassed  the need for African governments to do more to grow intra-African trade stressing  that Africa’s relatively low intra-regional trade is as a result of barriers created by limited connectivity within the continent. He called on leaders in the continent to think of physical connectivity and infrastructure where the gaps remain significant.

    He said: “We should consider softer aspects of connectivity. Non-tariff and tariff costs both influence how African countries can link with each other. Boosting intra-African trade is the most effective channel for trade to deliver development on the African continent adding deeper trade integration is the surest way to speed up Africa’s economic transformation. Policies to enhance intra-regional trade on the continent are crucial; strategies to implement, enforce and monitor their progress and impact are also needed”.

    He maintained  that trade contributes towards industrialisation and structural transformation and regretted that  Intra-African trade currently stands at a mere 13 percent of the continent’s total trade, which is very low.

    Higher volumes of intra-African trade are essential so African countries can do business with each other more frequently and with wider margins, Karingi added.