Afreximbank
President Prof. Benedict Oramah (5th right, Row 1)
and Amb. Albert Muchanga, African Union Commissioner for Trade and
Industry (6th right, Row 1) in group photograph with
other participants following conclusion of the meeting in Addis
Ababa.
Africa’s
leading private sector institutions and corporates have established a
Pan-AfricanPrivate Sector Trade and Investment Committee (PAFTRAC)
to serve as an advocacy platform to support the implementation of the
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and enhance African
private sector participation in trade and investment policy
formulation, including trade negotiations.
A
communique issued in Addis Ababa on 19 October 2018, at the end of a
meeting co-hosted by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and
the African Union Commission, said that PAFTRAC would enhance African
private sector participation and galvanize the views of the African
private sector, mainstreaming them into trade and investment policy
making. By providing a framework for effective public-private
partnership in the promotion of African trade, PAFTRAC will enhance
the integration of Africa into the global economy and contribute to
the transformation of African economies in line with the African
Union’s Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the
communique stated.
Speaking
during the meeting, which was co-chaired by Amb. Albert Muchanga,
African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, and Prof. Benedict
Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Afreximbank, Amb. Muchanga, said that PAFTRAC was an important
stepping-stone towards the establishment of the African Business
Council provided for under the AfCFTA Framework. Prof. Oramah said
that it was imperative for the African private sector to play a more
active role in shaping the parameters of trade and investment policy
at the national, regional and continental levels for its own benefit
and to achieve the transformation of African economies.
PAFTRAC
will be driven by a group of leaders comprising chief executives of
leading African businesses and financial institutions,
representatives of regional African business councils and chambers of
commerce. It will also include representatives of African policy and
research institutions.
The
meeting elected Prof. Patrick Utomi, founder of the Centre for Value
in Leadership, Nigeria, as the first Chairperson of PAFTRAC for a
two-year term. In addition to being a successful entrepreneur, Prof.
Utomi is a professor of political economy and a management expert. He
will be supported by vice-chairpersons drawn from different regions
of the continent.
PAFTRAC
members committed to mobilising wider private sector support for the
PAFTRAC initiative and adopted a work programme for the period 2019
to 2021, which will, among others, focus on Trade Finance; Trade
Facilitation; Non-Tariff Measures; and Africa’s external trade and
investment relations.
The
PAFTRAC Secretariat will be hosted by Afreximbank.
Participating
in the meeting were the COMESA Business Council; the Federation of
West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry; the African Business
Roundtable; Afro Champions; the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and
Industry; Ethiopian Airlines; and EBOMAF. Others were the African
Development Bank; Ecobank; ITC; the African Economic Research
Consortium; the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa;
Pan-African University; CERPAC and the World Diamond Council.
OCP,
Africa Rainbow Minerals, and Econet were unable to attend but sent
messages of support.
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