Africa to cut its reliance on West, unfair raw material trade practices – AfCFTA, Uganda leaders – The North Africa Post

African international locations should cut back their reliance on different Western international locations by boosting intra-Africa commerce and likewise by eliminating their exploitation of Africa’s uncooked supplies, in line with the AfCFTA Secretary Common and Uganda’s president.
Talking on the 2023 Zenith Financial institution Worldwide Commerce Seminar on Non-Oil Export, the Secretary Common of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, stated that financial diversification should even be the most important goal for Africa’s intra-trade actions to extend their contribution to the worldwide GDP. Whereas highlighting the massive commerce deficit between Africa and the remainder of the world, Mene famous that “financial diversification should proceed to be Africa’s goal to scale back nationwide sources accounting for the best share of export earnings in authorities income.” Wamkele additionally careworn that whereas “55 international locations in Africa contribute solely 3.1% to world GDP and solely 2.2% to world buying and selling output”, different international locations, “akin to Singapore, contribute over 6% to world commerce and output.”
On meals safety in Africa, Wamkele famous that intra-African commerce would assist Africa cut back its dependency on others and make the continent much less weak to geo-political crises on the earth. “President Kagame reminded us the opposite day {that a} nation of 43 million folks in Europe is feeding a continent of 1.3 billion folks. We should take motion to reverse this dependency of Africa on others whether or not it’s for our meals safety or certainly our public well being,” the AfCFTA chief stated. In a separate however associated improvement, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, talking on the G25 Africa Espresso Summit, highlighted the lack of jobs and cash that African international locations face when exporting unprocessed items at a low value. He careworn that promoting a kilogram of bean espresso in its uncooked kind could solely fetch round US$2.50, whereas the same amount of espresso that’s roasted, floor, and packaged could promote for as a lot as US$40. To that finish, Museveni expressed concern over the parasitic world system, the place European international locations reap the benefits of Africa’s uncooked supplies, solely to revenue from their remodeled merchandise at the next value.