Lamy, Others Say Harmonization is Key to Increasing African Trade
Initiatives to boost intra-African trade "have to happen at the regional level," said Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, at the World Economic Forum on Africa. "The key to removing these bottlenecks lies in the political energy of regional leaders to do it." Lamy said the problem isn't so much figuring out what to do as to figure out how to get it done.
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"Myriad bottlenecks" for trade include inadequate or non-existent infrastructure, lengthy complex procedures, inefficient border administrations, regulatory discrepancies that hamper trade and economies of scale, and the tightening up of trade finance, Lamy said.
Africa's trade faces a patchwork of trade rules and regulations that make cross-border trade cumbersome and, at times, impossible, Lamy said, and the regulatory environment across the continent must be harmonized.
Jaidev R. Shroff, CEO of United Phosphorus India said "until governments make the business environment more competitive, it is going to be very difficult" for Africa to become a major source of energy and other exports. Mekonnen Manyazewal, Minister of Industry of Ethiopia, said infrastructure and the capacity to manage and facilitate trade is "a basic. ... The issue of increasing our productive capacity and diversifying our products are key for trading."
"A few African entrepreneurs understand trade issues," said Jean-Louis Ekra, chairman of the African Export-Import Bank. "It is important that they build capacity on these issues so they can put pressure on the government to negotiate in their favour." Mahmoud Eisa, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade of Egypt, said Africa should have a target to increase its percentage of global trade from 4% and should set a target for intra-African trade. Eisa pointed to the European Union, where trade regulations are harmonized, as a model. He also called for stronger standardization in the light of a "weak" African Regional Organization for Standardization.