Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has urged countries under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to tackle under-production and under-consumption to spur economic transformation.
“Africa is so rich and yet so poor. There are a number of bottlenecks that we need to deal with including market integration, infrastructure such as roads and electricity and other cost pushers,” he said.
According to a Uganda State House statement Museveni was speaking during the Presidential Public-Private Roundtable on what stimuli are available to make Africa prosper.
The meeting was also about setting the tone on the Continental Free Trade Area opportunities for Africa, the future of COMESA,the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This was shortly after President Uhuru Kenyatta officially opened the Source 21 COMESA International Trade Fair and High Level Business summit currently taking place at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.
Museveni emphasized that Africa’s fragmented market must be integrated to encourage increased production and consumption of its goods and services.
He gave an example of China with an internal market population of 1.3 billion people but still fighting of more external markets while COMESA’s market is still constrained.
He urged leaders to address cost pushers such as infrastructure including transportation, electricity, human resource development, cost of money and politics including avoiding politics of identity if they are to succeed.
Museveni said these challenges are part of the reason Africa is not fully exploiting the AGOA opportunities offered by the United States of America to export over 6500 products tax free and quota free.
Other Heads of State included Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory, President ofmMauritius, Edgar Lungu, President of Zambia, and host President Uhuru Kenya.
The host President Uhuru Kenya urged member states to grow their economies through trade and improve the lives of their people.
“We need to come up with innovative and practical strategies to promote industrialization and enhance trade in our region,” he said during the opening ceremony.
The five-day Trade Expo that has attracted entrepreneurs, industrialists and manufacturers from the COMESA sub-region, is being conducted by the COMESA Business Council in partnership with Export Promotion Agencies and Private Sector Associations of the 21 COMESA member states, together with the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.
Being held under the theme of “Hallmark of Quality”, the International Trade Expo is aimed at promoting manufacturers’ competitiveness, value addition for quality industrial output and advancing cross border trade and inter-business linkages among members of the COMESA Economic bloc.
CN/as/APA