“We have to look within and act together. It is true that economic indicators show us that Africa is rising but it would be good to find correlation between indicators and activities. I believe, the world is excited about us because we have resources and we have our markets. But we should not become a dumping ground for other peoples’ goods,” said Dr. Nkosana Moyo, Founder and Executive Chair, Mandela Institute for Development Studies, South Africa.
Prior the economic crisis, Africa’s share of trade with other
emerging markets was a mere 30 percent. Today that has gone up to nearly 50 percent, and by 2020, on current trends that could be as much as 70 percent. This lays credence to the growing value of the continent, and shows why it has become imperative for Africa to only sought after mutually beneficial partnerships.
“For too long our continent has been engaged in partnerships that are unfavourable to us,” said Prof. Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of IDEP.
He agreed however that things are changing, but stressed the need for Africa to “understand and learn to partner in such a manner that we do not lose out in our deals. I strongly believe that no one is going to come to Africa to develop us. We have to do it for ourselves.”
While a case is being made for more beneficial partnerships, speakers at the event organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN ECA) noted that intra-Africa trade, which last year, stood at 7 percent, has to increase.
The level of intra-trade among African countries compares poorly with other regions of the world. Trade between the 27 EU countries is around 70 percent, 52 percent for Asian countries, 50 percent for North American countries and 26 percent for South American countries, the UN ECA noted.
“We can’t grow without trade between African countries,” said Inyang Ebong-Harstrup, Deputy Director of UN Office for South-South Cooperation.
“Why didn’t the three African countries got together to deal with Ebola?” she asked. “We need to finance our development without looking to the North.”
Symerre Grey Johnson of NEPAD, however pointed out that African countries are already in the process of forging positive partnerships as seen the Agricultural trust funds case wherein the main contributions have trickled in from Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
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