I am happy to join you for the second edition of Biashara Afrika.
We are very pleased to welcome you all to Rwanda, in particular our special guests: Former President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, and Prime Minister Russell Dlamini of the Kingdom of Eswatini, and other distinguished guests.
I thank you particularly because it took some amount of courage to proceed to head to Kigali from wherever you were because of what my friend Dr Kaseya said, the head of Africa CDC, of the Marburg virus that has been going around but well controlled.
From that, indeed there was a bit of panic, but we can’t entirely blame people. But I want to thank you for being here all of you today.
I want to assure you that Rwanda is doing whatever we can to contain and control this virus. But our best cannot amount to anything without the solidarity and support we have enjoyed from Africa CDC and other partners, as well as your courage to have good understanding and continue to be here for this event.
To begin, I wish to commend Secretary-General Wamkele for the good work being at the Secretariat with the support of the African Union Commission, to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The journey to establish the world’s largest free trade area began here in Kigali six years ago, as has already been said.
One year later, in Niamey, the operational phase of AfCFTA was launched. Your Excellency, Mahamadou Issoufou, I wish to once again commend you for leading us to this point and for your contributions as champion.
These two historic moments demonstrate our commitment to the economic unity and prosperity of Africa.
Indeed, Africa is capable of coming together to solve our own problems. But of course, I want to urge our leaders also to make sure that some of the things that stand in our way — that are actually not too difficult to address — should not continue to be the case.
We need to fix our politics, our governance, and it all begins with mindset and clarity of vision.
When people talk about AfCFTA and intra-Africa trade and how low it is, the first thing that comes to mind is lack of free movement.
Why should there be anything like that? Why shouldn’t there be free movement of people, goods and services? Why? Why shouldn’t people of one country freely move across the border to another country and across the whole continent? What is the issue?
In the end, we agree that we are brothers and sisters with the same needs. I am talking about moving freely across borders, yet some people don’t even move freely within their own borders. And it really is about politics that can be fixed and we must fix it.
We now live in a complex and ever-changing world. But there are a lot of opportunities for us to take advantage of. As a continent, how well we adapt will depend on how strongly connected we are, and on the value we add to our collective wealth.
The good news is that integration in Africa is ongoing, and already, we can see positive results. But we can do more and we can go faster.
Over thirty countries are now participating in the Guided Trade Initiative. Rwanda is happy to be among the first countries to join this pilot.
Governments need to continue doing their part to create an enabling environment for business. Removing non-tariff barriers should remain a priority, as well as facilitating cross-border movement.
Reducing freight and logistics costs would also be a game-changer. Africa has some of the highest in the world. The cost of freight and logistics, that is.
RwandAir, our national carrier, is providing an affordable service to the private sector to expand their reach on the continent.
I want to thank Ethiopian Airlines, I am told the CEO is here among us as an honoured guest, because of what they are doing to connect Africa and beyond. We need to join them because even with so much work they are doing, still Africa is begging to be connected.
The focus should be on supporting small and medium enterprises. The reason is simple: these businesses, and the women and young people that own them, are the backbone of Africa’s economy. But they shouldn’t remain small and medium. They need to grow.
Building a single continent market does not happen overnight.
A lot of progress has been made. But the road is still long. Even in the face of challenges, we need to be consistent and think outside of the box.
That is the formula for success. Working together, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
Once again, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for being with us here today. I hope you will enjoy your stay, and I wish you a very productive meeting.
Thank you for your kind attention.