18 May 2022

Efforts towards realising a united, resilient, rejuvenated and prosperous Africa through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) treaty are moving at an undesirable pace.

Business Botswana president, Mr Gobusamang Keebine said providing adequate and reliable infrastructure was a key issue in accessing and unlocking opportunities presented by AfCFTA.

Mr Keebine said this when officiating at the fifth Prosperity Africa Conference on Tuesday in Gaborone, organised by the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI) in collaboration with the Association of SADC Chamber of Commerce and

Industry (ASCCI) Business Botswana (BB). aimed to provide Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) with a platform to facilitate trade under AfCFTA.

Mr Keebine said lack of proper infrastructure remained a key gap and obstacle in doing trade in Africa, adding that pertinent bottlenecks created by inadequate infrastructure were mostly felt through bureaucratic and tedious procedures at various points of entry across the continent.

“It does not matter whether one travels by rail, road or air. Such delays included among others, the processing of visas which were at times not responded to on time, lengthy and bureaucratic processes in clearing goods and some other negative experiences that one has to go through with the potential of deterring business networks,” he said.

Though presenting a better and prosperous Africa, Mr Keebine said AfCFTA would not thrive under the current environment.

Equally important to realising AfCFTA, Mr Keebine said Africa must also focus closely on development of efficient corridors, through coordinated, well linked roads, rail and air infrastructural network that would necessitate delivery of goods and services. “The well-defined infrastructural networks are crucial for the continent in its networking trade efforts within the continent,” said Mr Keebine.

He emphasised that the forum was to equip SMMEs with capabilities to compete in the continental market under AfCFTA.

Attended by over 70 delegates across the continent, Mr Keebine said SMMEs must identify opportunities provided by AfCFTA to actively expand their network and uncover new business opportunities.

However, Mr Keebine said the current landscape in Africa did not only challenge the realisation of AfCFTA, but equally hindered growth and networking of SMMEs.

Therefore, Mr Keebine appealed to governments and the business sectors as critical players in AfCFTA to engage SMMEs through open communication mechanisms for them to fully establish and understand their role in realisation of Africa free trade treaty.

Consequently, Mr Keebine said existing multilateral agreements between Africans must work at impacting positively on facilitating AfCFTA.

Despite working hard to unite and organise, Mr Keebine has appealed to Africa to do away with some unprincipled conducts and illegal acts and attitudes.

Business Botswana president said abusive behaviours, violation of set down procedures, trade policies, laws and corrupt practices were bound to hinder growth in Africa. He noted that AfCFTA was not all about making money, but focusing on mechanisms that would enhance trade.

Mr Keebine said sluggish immigration processes in securing visas and delays at entry points, resulting in some goods and services arriving late at destined market and some having lost value were to be dealt with for SMMEs to thrive and Africa to prosper.

In Botswana, Mr Keebine said the business sector was dominated by SMMEs with a portion of over 70 per cent. Therefore, he said SMMEs development and capacitation was an imperative pillar in growing the economy.

Government, he said was determined to ensure that SMMEs in Botswana were fully functional and benefit from the AfCFTA.

Meanwhile, the executive director of Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PACCI), Mr Kebour Ghenna said the conference would unleash the role of SMMEs in international trade and advancing the implementation of AfCFTA.

Mr Ghenna said it would be critical for chambers of trade and African governments to focus on coming up with open market policies that would unify and ease the doing of business in the continent.

He said the conference was a vehicle for companies based in Africa to access business network throughout Africa.

Though the focus would be on advancing platforms for SMMEs to do business, he said the talks would equally be central to the vision of AfCFTA.

Mr Ghenna said Africa was the second fastest growing and most dynamic region in the world, with a landmass bigger than India, China, US and Europe combined, with a steadily growing population heading towards two billion.

Additionally, Mr Ghenna said Africa’s 1.1 billion workforce would be the world’s largest by 2040, noting that Africa has on average grown its economy by five per cent per annum in the last decade and also highlighted that Africa was steadily urbanised.ENDS