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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said the future of African economies is dependent on the level of trade and investments with the regional as he made case for greater integration of the Economic Community of West African States,(ECOWAS) and economies of the African region.
Osinbajo said in order to harvest full benefits of investments and Trade, which he described as ‘Twin Engine that drives growth and development, ECOWAS and the African region must work towards ensuring it speeds up development of infrastructure to increase trade, boost free movement of people and merchandise, that ensures faster eradication of poverty.
He was speaking at a High-Level Policy and Private sector Trade and Investment facililitation Partnership forum in Abuja.
According to him, Africa is the second fastest growing destination for foreign direct investment as the rest of the world now sees the continent as ready for business with many countries launching Investment in initiatives for the continent.
“It is obvious that the world is getting set for the Africa century,” he stressed.
However, that glorious economic future, according to him is underpinned by trade and Investment
He said never before has regionalism been as important as it is today, noting that it is critical for market enlargement and the locus for all our efforts to integrate market structures and establish supply chains.
“We must move away from rhetorics to action in developing our regional infrastructure and all value Chains,” he told delegates at the event.
He said it is necessary for economies to work together to expand market, services and intellectual property, advising on the need to see regionalism and multilateralism as being complementary.
He said that this is why Nigeria’s commitment to fostering regional integration through ECOWAS remains very strong and that the country is leading ongoing negotiations on agreements on continental free trade era which would conclude this year.
The Vice President also observed that Africa is at a time of watershed in Its history, with critical challenges and opportunities.
“Our Population will equal the population of India and China in 2050,”he stressed. “Despite all these, consumer spending is projected to reach $1.4 trillion within few years,and business to business spending to reach $3.5 trillion within years. We must prepare the ground to harvest these opportunities.”
He noted that despite the difficult global economic environment, African economies are performing better than the global averages, attributing the success to good governance,enabling business environment especially for the private and market to strife, micro economy stability, large market and rising domesticg demand and growing intra-African trade.
He said the GDP growth rate in the region averaged 2.2 percent in 2016 is estimated to rise to 3. 4 percent in this year and 4.3 percent in 2018 all above global averages.
The Vice President, however raised concerns that resource dependence is no longer the formulas for growth but trade and Investment, explaining that most of the best performing countries are the non commodity dependent ones, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal ,among others all re order high girth’s rates.
He also commended the pace and commitment of reforms of the economies in the region, noting, that the pay accounted for 30 percent of all global improvement in business, regulatory reforms in 2016.
The Vice President pointed out that Nigeria has embarked on reforms on macro economic stability,ease of doing business reforms, Executive orders signed,and other series of reforms to ensure the right kind of environment is created for businesses in the country,and to attract investors.
Speaking also on growing Trade facilitation in Nigeria,Roberto Azevedo,the Director general of World Trade Organisation said, Currently, they are having a discussion on Trade faciliation,investment facilitation,and that these are key elements for developments and job creation in developing countries. He noted that this also allows a model for economic diversification, while breaking away from exporting commodities by improving value addition.
“In Buenos Aires we would be talking about food security,subsidies for Agricultural products,fisheries,and a conversation in investment faciliation,electronic commerce,and how to help SMEs,and Nigeria is taking a leading in that conversation,and we must discuss further,” he said.
He stated further that Nigeria must have the right kind of consistency in political and economic strategies to attract the right kind of investment to deepen it’s infrastructural deficits.
Giving further insights on what Nigeria needs to do to build on improved ranking on ease of doing business,he said,”Nigeria must keep on faciliating investment,and Trade.We already have the trade facilitation agreement that Nigeria is committed to, so they must explore that to reduce trade costs,in order to help Nigeria’s businesses integrate further onto global economy.
Investments would help the economies to leapfrog,we don’t need to re-invent the will,he stated further.
Earlier in his remarks,Okechukwu Enelemah,Nigeria’s Minister of Industry Trade and Investment said the high level partnership forum is a four way partnership that sees the Nigerian government,ECOWAS,friends of the World Trade Organisation and the private sector,deepen partnership drive towards improving trade and investment as engine of growth for the Nigerian economy.
Also,Muhhisa Kituyi,the Secretary -General ,United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development lauded Nigeria’s effort towards deepening trade faciliation.
“We must adjust ourselves to the global economic environment by addressing the dynamics of our made in Africa goods to be globally competitive .Our ease of doing business must give us the needed edge towards attracting the right kind of investments”he said.
Also,Marcel Alain de Souza,the President of ECOWAS Commission said at the forum that the sub-region is working towards a common currency,in addition to developing the right inter-linking infrastructure that would see easier movement of people and merchandise both within and outside the sub-region,as part of strategy of attracting the right kind of investment.
ONYINYE NWACHUKWU & HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA
