Nigerian governors have welcomed and are ready to support the establishment of a sub-sovereign government network, which was launched on Thursday at the ongoing Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) in Durban, South Africa.
The governors noted this at the trade and investment conference of the African Sub-Sovereign Governments held on November 18 under the theme: “African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network as a Vehicle for Promoting Intra-African Trade and Investment” in eThekwini (Durban), Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
The Conference resolved to establish the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network vehicle for enhancing their role in expanding, growing, and deepening intra-African trade and investment.
The Network will help sub-sovereign governments enable their greater participation in the AfCFTA to facilitate trade and investment with a view towards promoting an integrated African economic market, deeper economic integration, and the achievement of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063.
Addressing delegates at the forum, Benedict Oramah, (professor), president, Afreximbank, said the African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network is proposed as a platform to promote socio-economic cooperation amongst Africa Sub-National Governments within a continental framework. Given the differences in levels of development and industrial and technological advancements, members will benefit from the exchange of experiences and knowledge.
He said it can also be a platform to promote technology exchange and foster cross investments that take advantage of market opportunities, resource endowments and even relative geographic proximity that will be given meaning by borderless Africa that the AfCFTA will ultimately engender.
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It is a platform for sharing ideas, skills, knowledge, and peer learning for the benefit of intra-African trade and investment across sub-sovereign governments, and will encourage the building of trade carrying/enabling infrastructure and capacities for intra-African economic integration.
Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, welcomed the network on behalf of the Nigerian governors forum, as the leader.
He believes the sub-sovereign government network will increase economic activities, enhance regional trade, ease payments of cross border transactions, among other benefits.
He was concerned that sub-national governments cannot get loans at a concessionary rate like the national government unless they pass through the national government.
However, Afreximbank announced the setting aside of $250million seed funding to support deals and initiatives the Network will birth.
“We will be willing to consider technical assistance and provide Project Preparation Facility, guarantees, trade and project finance support. Our Trade Intelligence solutions can support market access studies, Oramah said.
“Being part of this moment assures us that with unwavering collective determination, we can rebuild our continent into a more integrated market embedded into the world economy,” he said further.
In his opening remarks, Kwazulu-Natal Premier SIHLE ZIKALAL said there are many lessons that other financing institutions can learn from Afreximbank on how they are able to deploy innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, thereby accelerating industrialization and intra-Africa trade.
“it is important that in our planning we recognise that our subnational economies and indeed our countries are interdependent. KwaZulu-Natal alone shares borders with eSwatini, Mozambique, and Lesotho. Our prosperity and misfortunes are intertwined with these countries and the rest of the continent,” he said.
