By: Nana Achiaa Aboagye
Expected job and income growth driven by AfCFTA is anticipated to help lift at least 50 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035. For analysts, however, the slow pace of action is becoming a source of worry.
At the 2nd “Discovering Namibia Intra Africa MSME and Township Economic Expo and Business Conference 2023” in Swakopmund, Namibia, speakers were unanimous on the need to push businesses, academia, analysts, and especially governments to take realistic actions.
They say governments, as the implementers, must be held accountable for their commitments towards AfCFTA.
AfCFTA is one of the Agenda 2063 flagship projects: ‘The Africa We Want’. AfCFTA is a vehicle to create decent jobs and wealth, enhance inclusive and sustainable development, support green recovery, and ultimately eradicate extreme poverty across the African continent. It also supports the acceleration and attainment of most of the SDGs by 2030.
Namibia is committed to the ambition of enhancing trade within the continent. So, Namibia is fully engaging all platforms, from technical working groups to the Assembly of Heads of State and government in the AfCFTA negotiations.
This is to advance the country’s offensive and defensive interests. At the 2nd “Discovering Namibia Intra Africa MSME and Township Economic Expo and Business Conference 2023” in Swakopmund, Namibia, the Chief Economist of Erongo Region, Mr. Albert Christiaans, said Namibia is working steadily to implement AfCFTA, and this will make the voice of women and young people heard for consideration in the formulation of the consequential framework.
He added that AFCFTA is expected to create a very good opportunity to increase value addition and the establishment of viable and competitive industries on the continent, which could create a lot of employment opportunities for the people, especially the youth. He urged Africa member states to strive to explore technological advancement in their endeavour for economic growth.
UNDP Resident Representative to Namibia, Ms. Alka Bhatia, says enhancing the capacity of MSMEs in informal and township economies will drive structural economic transformation through trade and investment, thus creating resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth and development in Namibia and the African continent.
She said if dedicated support is deployed at scale to effectively capacitate the informal sector and MSMEs, Namibia stands to maximise positive development gains from the AfCFTA.
Ms. Bhatia said UNDP pledges its commitment to work with stakeholders to improve and strengthen the contribution and meaningful participation of the informal economy, including in the full implementation of the AfCFTA, through capacity building initiatives, the creation of awareness and sensitization, and the provision of catalytic funding to support Namibia’s efforts and contribution in the region towards maximising the opportunities and benefits of the AfCFTA.
She mentioned that they deem AfCFTA a vehicle for creating decent jobs and wealth, enhancing inclusive and sustainable development, supporting green recovery, and ultimately eradicating extreme poverty across the African continent, as well as supporting the acceleration and attainment of most of the SDGs by 2030.
It is envisioned that by effectively implementing AfCFTA, Africa will become the world’s largest free trade area in terms of member country numbers, territory, population, and GDP.
