FORUM: Industrializing Africa: Renewed commitment towards an inclusive and Sustainable industrializarion and Economic Diversification. Africa Industrialization Day 2021
examine ways to stimulate Africa's industrialization process.
The COVID-19 crisis continues to deeply affect economies and societies everywhere.
At the same time, investment in pandemic recovery is a generational opportunity for bold transformation and accelerated progress towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities and building climate resilience.
Prospects for the prosperity of the African continent are anchored in expanding opportunities for women and girls, investing in young people, advancing agro-industrial transformation and green industrialization through technology transfer, innovation and partnerships, and full implementation of the Continental Free Trade Agreement.
Inclusive and sustainable industrial development and economic diversification promote growth and development through self-reliance and reduce dependence in a globalized economy. It is especially crucial in a world where solidarity is in short supply and global challenges loom large – from vaccine inequity to the digital divide.
On Africa Industrialization Day, I reaffirm the commitment of the United Nations to work with the leaders and people of Africa in making inclusive and sustainable industrialization an effective pathway to a prosperous and peaceful continent.
U.N. Secretary-General.
Summit on Africa's industrialization and economic diversification
The Summit is anticipated to unlock the evolution of a vibrant pan-African enterprise and capital base that will unleash an inclusive and sustainable industrialisation pathway that carries along with the participation of all economic agents, including SMEs, youth, and women in the generation of national wealth and creation of jobs as well as expansion of entrepreneurship opportunities for Africa’s populations. The impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic continue to drive the urgent and imperative need for bold actions to drive transformative change in key economic pillars such as Industrialisation.
The specific objectives of the African Industrialization and Economic Diversification Summit are:
- Decide on a renewed continental policy framework on Africa’s industrialisation aimed at rallying the continent’s resolve and commitment to a bold set of policy and investment actions to accelerate the continent’s industrialisation drive
- Reinforce the development of regional industrial value chains to clearly articulate Africa’s quest to industrialize, create jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for Africa’s MSMEs, youth and women within the context of current and emerging continental and global socio-economic trends.
- Provide high-level political support to drive a globally competitive Africa-Industrialisation programme through public-private alliances, at the national, regional, continental level, and aligned global policy coherence, coordination and linkages, investment financing. This should take full cognizance of current and emerging key cross-sector needs including energy and water, education and training, Science-Technology and Innovation, climate change, environmental resilience and crisis management.
Follow the conversation with the hashtags #AfricaIndustrialisation or #AIW2021
Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
Economic Diversification.
Economic diversification is the process of shifting an economy away from a single income source toward multiple sources from a growing range of sectors and markets. Traditionally, it has been applied as a strategy to encourage positive economic growth and development.
Sustainable and Inclusive Industrialization
Over the past few years, the international community has made a quantum leap in advancing new approaches to accelerate progress and pave the way for a more ambitious, inclusive and universal development framework beyond 2015. While industrialization was not factored into the Millennium Development Goals framework, inclusive and sustainable industrialization now features strongly in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly raise industry's share of employment and gross domestic product.
12th African Private Sector Forum : “Strengthening African private sector’s capacity to respond to disrupted markets and ensure economic resilience in the face of COVID-19 Pandemic.”
The main objective of the 12th Africa Private Sector Forum is to explore feasible ways and means of strengthening African private sector’s capacity to respond to disrupted markets and ensure post COVID 19 economic resilience and steady recovery driven by strong, vibrant and dynamic Private Sector and be able to continue driving Africa’s transformational Agenda 2063 aspirations.
Specific Objectives of the Forum
- To dialogue and explore ways of creating a conducive business environment and supportive - entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem for Africa’s Private sector.
Ameliorate governance in the public contract procurement value chain amongst AU countries to enhance competitiveness and to impose a quota for private sector participation in big public contract tender processes in Africa.
- To facilitate the engagement of market actors in recovery planning. It is important for the voice of private sector employers and workers to be heard when designing, implementing and monitoring an economic recovery. This requires new innovative approaches that harness the potential of new technologies and digital platforms to enhance publicprivate dialogue for socio-economic transformation.
To provide a platform for a Public-Private sector dialogue on regulations and promotion of E-Commerce in order to facilitate better access to markets and digital trading platforms while removing or significantly reducing the need for physical travels and contacts.
To further discussions on ways to make it easier for the African Private Sector to access relevant financial services. Given that the closing of the greater part of global economy has created a financial crisis, among other crises in many countries, policymakers should consider how financial sector reforms can be used to increase liquidity for Business financing, while improving mechanisms that extend online payments.
- To discuss measures on how Africa’s Private Sector can be actively engaged in the economic recovery of African Countries by improving public procurement policies and procedures that enhance MSME active participation in the tendering process.
- To explore means to improve trade and supply chains in which markets are open and competition is maintained hence creating opportunities that enable Africa’s Private Sector to operate in national and global supply chains, improve their competitiveness and enabled to access new global markets to increase Intra Africa Trade.
- To call for a commitment to boost agricultural production and productivity levels through the scaling up of agro-technologies, investing in access to affordable quality seeds and fertilizers, markets through value chain improvements, and promoting agricultural research and development among others.
- To mobilize for critical resources required to invest in Smart & Sustainable Energy: Smart oil and gas infrastructure.
- To highlight the importance of tourism as a key factor in economic transformation and call for increased investment in the sector. This also calls for collaborative efforts to strengthen the capacity of African private sector and integrate them in the tourism value chain.
- To create awareness about the presence of an active “African Union Investment Promotion Network Website” that is mainly intended among others to promote the exchange of information and facilitate interactions, between all private sectors within Africa and across the globe.
No comments:
Post a Comment