African governors will work together to figure out how to boost continental trade.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Governors from across Africa have assured their compatriots that they will work together to improve trade and commerce on the continent.

They agreed to work together to remove the barriers that currently impede intra-African trade.

These were among the governors’ resolutions at the second African Sub-Sovereign Governments Network (AfSNET) conference, which was co-hosted by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on September 29 and 30 in Abuja.

A number of state, regional, and provincial governors and premiers from the Network of African Sub-Sovereign Governments attended the conference.

According to a communiqué issued on September 30, the conference resolved, among other things, that removing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, particularly difficulties in obtaining visas and traveling within the continent, was critical in promoting the movement of goods and services across the continent.

Participants agreed that developing critical trade infrastructure, such as rail, roads, maritime, air, and power, is critical to promoting intra-Africa trade and industrialization.

They also agreed to raise awareness about potential opportunities throughout Africa in order to boost intra-continental collaboration and trade.

The conference also agreed that developing citizens’ technical capacities, particularly those of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), would boost competitiveness and improve their integration into the intra-Africa trade value chain, among other things.

Participants agreed that AfSNET should be used to strengthen human, technical, financial, and institutional capacities to support sub-sovereign economies and authorities’ participation in intra-African trade and investment across the continent’s eight regional economic blocks.