Addis Ababa — Ethiopia is an important country not only as a diplomatic capital of the continent, but equally as an economic powerhouse, ECA Acting Executive Secretary Antonio Pedro said.
Pedro told ENA that Ethiopia "is a country that is important, not only as the diplomatic capital of the continent, but equally so as an economic powerhouse, given its role in IGAD and beyond in fostering or accelerating the achievement of the SDGs.
The Acting Executive Secretary said that Africans have come out from the SDGs summit held during the UN General Assembly in New York with a very strong determination to rescue the SDGs.
According to him, Ethiopia is at the center of some of those actions.
He further noted Ethiopia's efforts in agriculture and food systems transformation as impressive and stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
"Let's pick for example the need to foster agriculture and food systems transformation. The government has been spearheading, with high levels of success, transformation of its agriculture and food systems, which are a clear reflection of what is happening with the wheat sector from being a dependent on the import of wheat to now potentially becoming an exporter."
Pedro stressed that this is what "we need to see more and more again on the continent."
The transformation of the agricultural systems that depend on the confluence of inputs both in terms of developing infrastructure and in terms of roads which link the producers with the markets as well as availability of energy and the agri-parks that can process the agricultural produce is essential, he stated.
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"Here we have seen already that we are combining all of those factors in a very synergetic way. This is a combination of the agriculture, infrastructure, energy and industrial policy development as part of the same. This is important for Africa as an example of what needs to be done across the continent."
Moreover, the Acting Executive Secretary elaborated on the importance of the need to implement AfCFTA to accelerate markets and trade integration in the continent.
"We have worked with the formulation of the national AFCFTA strategy. And that is about linking our countries with the opportunity that exists within this new trade regime, which will have an enabling role and access to a market of 1.4 billion people with all of these non-tariff barriers."
He further pointed out that Africa needs to make progress in the ratification of the protocols. One major protocol, which is protocol on free movement of people, goods and services, is yet to be ratified.
"This is critical if you want to accelerate trade within Africa using the share of intra-African trade. This depends on our ability to move around with our goods and services without all of the difficulties."
The Acting Executive Secretary reiterated that ECA is committed to supporting the continent to accelerate and facilitate the implementation of AfCFTA.
