By Andualem Sisay Gessesse – African countries are told to protect their own interest as a continent by properly planning their development using the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) frameworks before engaging with the outside world such as China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia for infrastructures development.
The advice came from Adam Elhiraika, Chief Macroeconomist at the UN Economic Commission for Africa this morning at a press conference that followed the opening of the 2023 African Economic Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“Governance is probably the most important factor in development and stability. When we talk about governance, in economic terms, we talk about building institutions that can work together and that can really help us to plan our development. If we do not plan our development, then we plan to fail Development planning is a must,” he said.
“We need to identify our priorities, mobilize resources to use these resources efficiently and to be accountable to the people we serve…At regional and global level, we need institutions that work together to integrate as Africa before we engage with outside world,” said Adam, responding to the question raised about the impact of China’s Road and Belt Initiative.
“So, we have been talking about sequencing of integration – regional or global integration. By sequencing we mean we identify our priorities and capacity gaps as terms of engagement with the rest of the world. So, when we engage with China, we engage with Russia, with India, with Saudi Arabia; we should have to have a clear view of the terms of engagement. So that we protect our development priorities and we protect our regional interest.
“AfCFTA provides a framework for African countries to define these rules of engagement. So that is why we want African counties to commit to the implementations of AfCFTA as soon as possible. So that we protect our interest as a continent,” Adam said.
Commenting on “I personally encourage African countries take that advantage of opening their economy to the 1.4 billion people on the continent and be able to leverage all the factors of production that entails. If we look at other regional blocs, they did that such as the European Union and others. This is something that already on the move on the continent as some countries have already done that. So, we are hoping and expecting that others will follow suit at their own time,” said Professor Kevin.
In relation to the need for African countries to mobilize domestic resources and enhancing the investment climate, Professor Kevin Urama, Chief Economist and Vice President for African Development Bank’s Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, said: “If you have a stable macroeconomic policy environment, it helps in domestic revenue mobilization and it also improves business environment. It is not one or the other. It is what countries need to do concurrently to improve their domestic revenue mobilization but also enhancing the business environment. So that countries can generate more capital to invest in productive assets”.
The participants of this year’s Africa Economic Conference (AEC 2023), which will continue over the coming few days, are expected to reflect on industrialization of Africa, use of locally manufactured goods, trading of services goods as well as free movement of Africans within the continent, among others.
The AEC 2023 is organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and African Development Bank (AfDB).