- ECA's Economic Report on Africa 2015 argues that for Africa to be able to address its problems of poverty and lack of employment, it requires a very dynamic industrial sector. For this to happen, trade has a role to play.
The report subtitled Industrialization through Trade was vividly discussed in Kigali by a broad-based group of 93 participants including ambassadors, senior governments officials, academia, UN Staff, private Sector, bilateral and multilateral representatives and the media.
Mr. Claver Gatete, Rwandan Minister of Finance and economic Planning who presided the discussions, praised ECA for a well researched report and said that the theme of the report is extremely relevant to one of the major development challenges confronting our continent.
"This report is a rich one. It is a useful reference source for in-depth discussions about the right policies to facilitate greater trade and faster industrialization in Africa," Gatete says. He went on to explain that robust trade and a strong industrialization form part of the same nexus that generate wealth and build prosperous nations. "Africa needs to create wealth by producing not only for ourselves but also for others and that underscores the importance of trade," says Minister Gatete
"Promoting deeper regionalism can provide a significant boost to the development of Regional Value Chains, trade performance and industrialization" the report argues. At national level, the report recommends the need to have clear policies and visions, about industrialization and trade.
Mr. Antonio Pedro, Director of ECA in Eastern Africa says that the report identifies enabling factors beyond policies and visions. He argues that trade-driven industrialization does not happen by decree. it requires concerted action from governments and other stakeholders to translate visions into actions. "The route to industrialization will differ from country to country depending on their initial endowments and other enabling factors, including the quality of leadership, skills base infrastructure stock and legal and regulatory frameworks," Pedro says.
Talking to the press, Pedro said that the Economic Report on Africa 2015 also emphasized the message conveyed by UNECA in the report of 2013 that stressed the importance of commodity-based industrialization. "We need to maximize value addition of our commodities to reduce the exposure to price volatility and promote resource-driven industrialization to retain Jobs on the continent ."
Mr. Mannington Namara, Rwanda's Director of TradeMark East Africa who was also the discussant at the event echoed the same message, calling African countries to take advantage of the new market linkages provided by regional integration and invest in industrialization by adding value to their primary commodities
Mr. Leonard Rugwabiza, Chief Economist at Rwanda Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, expressed disappointment at the pace of African efforts to integrate "at the current rate, it would require at least a century to create the Continental Free Trade" he says.
Professor Humphrey Moshi of University of Dar es Salam invigorated the audience when he called upon the continent to break away from the "sandwich of pessimism and optimism" trap.
"We should not be blinded by headline news which suggest that we are amongst the fastest growing region in the world when in the process we are still leaving many people behind in object poverty" he says.
Minister Gatete, citing Northern corridor, noted that there is progress happening in some parts of the continent, which we should celebrate. This, he concluded, was a result of strong leadership, political will and commitment.
