Africa Prosperity Dialogues: Moving AfCFTA from words to action
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) no doubt holds huge promise for the African continent, and the world. Every leading think tank agrees. The World Bank believes, if properly executed, it could lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) foresees that if implemented, by 2040, it will increase intra-continental trade by 40 per cent. These are not just numbers. These are human lives, transformed nations, and a prosperous continent. Yet, despite its potential, the agreement has not fully taken off.
Panel on Security and Intra-Africa Trade at the Africa Prosperity Dialogues
That was why five years after the agreement was signed, leaders from across the continent—business executives, senior policymakers, ministers, technocrats, women and young entrepreneurs—gathered in Ghana between January 26 and 28, 2023 for the Africa Prosperity Dialogues. These participants carried their constituents’ dreams for the AfCFTA as echoed by H.E. Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat when he said: “We carry the ambitions of the people that we represent. We carry the ambitions of 1.3 billion people, young Africans, and small and medium enterprises.”
[L]: H.E. Wamkele Mene, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat; [R]: Dr Eugene Owusu, Executive Director, Africa Prosperity Network
Themed “AfCFTA, from Ambition to Action: Delivering Prosperity through Continental Trade”, it had a simple goal: to chart a course that would take the AfCFTA from words to action. That meant addressing tough questions: How can the AfCFTA cross the bridge between desire and action? How can it deliver prosperity to Africa? How can the AfCFTA be the world’s largest free trade area, in words and truth?
“We have everything we need to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future,” announced the vice president of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, in his keynote address, a glitter of hope in his eyes.
That reminder of the continent’s intrinsic powers, set the tone for the high-level sessions, interactive fora and keynote speeches. Participants examined the challenges impeding intra-African trade—inadequate infrastructure (transport, communications, energy, information technology), poor trade facilitation processes, access to finance, and free movement of persons—and how to overcome them. Some of the stand-out sessions focused on the free movement of persons and goods, security and technology.
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