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Collaborate to attract FDIs into Africa… Trade Minister urges IPAs

African Trade and Investment Promotion Authorities must collaborate to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the region, the Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T Hammond, has stated.

Mr Hammond stated this on Monday in his opening remarks at the African Investment Promo­tion Authorities (IPAs) capacity building conference in Accra, and said countries in Africa needed to dialogue to harness its resources to foster economic transformation of the region and also attract more trade and investment.

The two-day programme, or­ganised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC)on the theme “Equipping African IPAs to promote and facilitate investments for accelerating implementation of the AfCFTA”, discussed the AfCFTA protocol on investment.

Mr Hammond emphasised the need for countries in Africa to har­monise their trade rules to boost trade in the region, adding that though Africa was blessed with nu­merous resources and investment opportunities, its share of FDIs inflows were low.

He said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Develop­ment said the $44 billion FDI into Africa in 2022 represented just 3.5 per cent of global FDI inflows.

According to the Minister, Africa needed more FDI inflows not only to boost economic development, but also address the infrastructural gap in the region, saying it was estimated that Africa needed$600 billion annually to finance its infrastructural gap.

The Minister said the AfCFTA represented an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate Africa’s development through trade.

He said the World Bank esti­mated that the pact would increase the value of African Trade to $450 billion by 2035 and increase exports to about 81 per cent.

Mr Hammond urged the partic­ipants to provide valuable insights and suggestions which would help attract investment to the region.

The Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, in a message, said Africa described the last frontier, offered a wealth of untapped and underuti­lised investment opportunities.

“With a projected population of 2.5 billion by 2050 driven by a youthful workforce, abundant natu­ral resources, burgeoning technol­ogy and innovation opportunities, Africa is now one of the fast­est-growing regions in the world,” he stated.

Mr Mene said the World Bank in 2020 said AfCFTA solidified Africa’s socio-economic poten­tials by facilitating and promoting intra-African investment towards a single market of over 1.3 billion consumers with a combined Gross Domestic Product surpassing $3.4 trillion.

He said AfCFTA had devel­oped a protocol on investment with the objective to promote, facilitate, protect and retain in­vestment that fostered sustainable economic development.

EmekaUzomba, Senior Advisor at the Afreximbank, commended the partners for the conference to deliberate on protocols to promote trade and investment in Africa.

He urged the IPAs to create a platform to share ideas, knowledge and best practices to promote trade and investment in Africa, pledging that Afreximbank was prepared to support the creation of the platform.

The Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, Yoofi Grant, said the work­shop served as a crucial platform for IPAs to learn more about AfCFTA protocols on investment and explore strategies to support its implementation.

He said the programme would help participants to exchange ideas and share best practices and knowledge to promote and facilitate trade in Africa.

“By working together, we can foster a more investment-friendly environment across Africa, at­tracting the investments necessary to general employment oppor­tunities and propel economic growth,” Mr Grant stated.

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