African trade ministers must ignore the headwinds of anti-globalization and continue their work to integrate the continent's economies, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi said in a keynote address at a conference on trade in Addis Ababa.
Talking at the first ever Africa Trade Week, organized by the African Union and the UN Economic Commission on Africa, to discuss trade and the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in particular, Dr. Kiutyi reminded ministers of the ways in which more trade can generate more jobs and livelihoods.
When ready, the CFTA will bring together fifty-four African countries with a combined population of more than one billion people and a combined gross domestic product of more than $3.4 trillion. As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TIPP) have stalled, the CFTA could become the world's newest mega-regional trade agreement.
“Negotiators should focus on the intended outcome of improving productive capacity and structural transformation to foster inclusive economic growth and sustainable development in Africa,” Dr. Kituyi told the conference.
This outcome will create new market opportunities that will boost intra-African trade, generating jobs, incomes, and improving livelihoods, he said.
Dr. Kituyi called upon Ministers to catalyze investment, production, and trade within Africa, highlighting the need for targeted trade facilitation reforms, including in trade-related infrastructure, to increase trade capacity and reduce the cost of doing business. Africa needs much more investment in productive capacity to ensure that trade facilitation reforms facilitate both imports and African exports, he said.
Dr. Kituyi congratulated the African Union for hosting the African Trade Week, describing it as an important platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue and consensus building among stakeholders from public, private and civil society groups.
He pledged UNCTAD’s commitment to supporting the AU Commission and Member States in their efforts to use trade as a tool for development.
