CEO of EABC (East African Business Council), John Bosco Kalisa, urges the African governments to facilitate the trade under the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area).
Mr. Kalisa made the call during the ECA (Economic Commission for Africa) and EABC webinar on ‘Financing Recovery from Covid-19 Status of the AfCFTA Negotiations and Implications to the Private Sector in the East African Community’, took place on April 6, 2022.
Video
Introducing to the panel, Mama Keita, Director of ECA Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa says “Africa’s recovery process has been hindered by high inflation, tighter global financial conditions; rising interest rates and the Ukraine crisis further compound the situation.”
She therefore calls the public and private sectors to build resilience against external shocks such as the war in Ukraine that hinders the East African economy, by increasing the intra-African agro-food, industry, services and trade.
As per projection, Mr. Kalisa said “the AfCFTA is set to increase Africa’s real income by 7 percent to USD 450 billion and intra-African trade by 81 percent by 2035 according to World Study.”
He called for full involvement of the private sector in the AfCFTA national implementation strategies, elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers and tackling information asymmetry to boost trade in Africa.
This ECA-EABC webinar convened about 150 senior government officials, private sector players, media, academia and development partners from East Africa region.
Tanga igitekerezo