Africa Needs An Ecosystem Conducive To Transformational Leadership.

Exponents has aknowledged the potentials in Africa Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA.
The reason many professionals has risen to champion the course and its implementation.

While outlining the benefits, experts noted it's usefulness for economies, the promise of carbon credits and the prospects of Africa’s blue economy which will go a long way in supporting Africa’s development.

They posited that AfCFTA is likened to Africa’s Marshall Plan because it aims to strengthen the business fundamentals of the continent. In their opinion, the small size of Africa's individual economies necessitates Africa leverage a multiplier effect, creating a single, integrated market to attract investments.

But, to achieve a multiplier effect, they said, Africa needs to address many challenges such as its infrastructural shortcomings. They also went on to say that the Programmes for Infrastructure Development in Africa aims to address some of the issues.

If Africans are really ready to change these narratives, it is imperative to also address the legal and regulatory misalignments that are barriers to trade. For instance, at the African Union Commission Summit last February, the Assembly adopted three important protocols related to competition, investment and intellectual property rights.

These protocols experts says serves as catalysts for the AfCFTA to drive Africa’s structural transformation and as pillars for the emergence of a globally competitive value chain on the continent because a market of 1.4 billion people, projected to reach 2.5 billion people by 2050, presents a substantial incentive for investors as such a market would be the combined size of China and India today.

According to Anthonio Pedro, acting secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa,
Africa could generate $82 billion annually if we could sell sequestered carbon at $120 per tonne.
He noted that in implementations by
AfCFTA, we need to celebrate certain milestones. "Notably, unlike many other continental blueprints, we secured the ratification of the AfCFTA in record time. The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and other stakeholders supported that exercise by raising stakeholders’ awareness of the ways in which the AfCFTA could address their concerns and challenges", he said.

To implement the AfCFTA fully, he continued, Africa needs to domesticate the protocols in national laws and regulations because the protocol on the free movement of goods and services is still a problem limiting inter trade exchange.
This protocol he said is very important because it is limiting Africans trade.

In light of the Moroni declaration on Africa’s blue economy being the next big thing, Pedro has this to say
"It is huge, Moroni Declaration, originating in a conference in Moroni, the capital of the Comoro Islands, was about island states and climate actions.
The declaration recognized that Africa’s island states suffer from the same predicaments as its landlocked countries, which now have land-linked strategies. One observation that informed the declaration was that Africa's island states are essentially sea-locked, somewhat segregated from existing regional integration frameworks. We need to make the connection, moving from sea-locked to sea-linked".

He established that the blue economy presents an opportunity for island states to participate meaningfully in Africa’s structural transformation.

Anthonio explained that the sea-linked agenda includes constructing deep seaports in island states so that they can position themselves as trans-shipment hubs.

The Moroni Declaration and the Great Blue Wall Initiative launched at COP26 in Glasgow, underpin efforts to develop Africa’s blue economy, which would increase the conservation of Africa's marine ecosystems from about 3 per cent to 30 per cent.

It takes into cognisance value addition in the fisheries sector, carbon credit, solar energy investments and other initiatives that could generate millions of jobs for young people.

Category:

Economy 

Oganisation:

Clevenard.com

Writer:

Idemudia Franca

Phone:

08060353790

• 29 Feb, 2024
• Franca
• 298 views