Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and chairman of Intra African Trade Fair( IATF) Olusegun Obasanjo has called for a bold, decisive and innovative leadership to achieve African dream of coordinated economy in terms of trade and investment.
Obasanjo spoke yesterday, at the signing of host agreement for the third edition of the IATF slated for 21 to 27th November 2023 at Abijan, Cote d’ivoire.
The agreement was between Côte d’Ivoire , African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union (AU) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
It follows the resounding successful second edition held in November 2021 in Durban, South Africa, and realised over $42.1 billion in trade and investment deals, with 1501 exhibitors and over 32,500 attendees from 128 countries across Africa and beyond.
Obasanjo decried Africa’s share of global trade which remains low at three per cent and volume of trade among Africans currently put at 16-18 per cent.
He stated that the remaining 84 per cent trade consummated outside the shores of African has continued to impede the continent’s trade growth.
“There volume of trade among Africans themselves is about 16-18 per cent of the total African trade . This means that we are trading 84 per cent with outsiders rather than with fellow Africans. This is a huge opportunity cost to the African continent.”
However, he expressed confidence that with continental integration in terms of trade and investment as well as the networking opportunities that IATF offers, the continent would begin to dismantle the well-laid colonial structures that have disintegrated Africa for close to a century.
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