SEATINI Uganda Executive Director Jane Nalunga, AfCFTA Secretary General discuss EU- Africa Trade and Investment Relations

Ahead of the EU-African Union Summit scheduled for 17-18 February 2022, African thought leaders stressed the importance of trade and investment agreements and regional integration as keys to drive investment into the continent.

Jane Nalunga, Executive Director at SEATINI Uganda, joined the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Wamkele Mene and others, to reflect on reshaping EU-Africa Trade and Investment relations during the public hearing held on Monday, 24th January 2022 by the European Parliament to discuss EU– Africa Trade and Investment Relations.

During a panel discussion, Jane Nalunga called on Europe to provide Africa with policy space so that there can be a vibrant EU-Africa relationship which is mutually beneficial. She cited that the past EU-Africa relations have been highly asymmetrical and skewed in favour of the EU which has entrenched the power imbalance and Africa’s commodity dependence.

Jane Nalunga urged the European Union to forgo country-by-country Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in favour of a continent-wide approach. She further noted that there is need to review and re-assess the EU-Africa relationship especially the EPAs that the EU is using as its principal trade policy instrument with Africa. She reiterated that the EPAs have led to the rise of a number of challenges for Africa and for the Regional Economic Communities (RECs).

In a keynote address, Mene cited the EU as a model for African integration. He described a strong Africa-Europe partnership as a “win-win.” Africa’s youthful population and middle class presented significant opportunities for European businesses, he said, stressing the pharmaceutical, automobile and agro-processing sectors as hungry for investment.

Wamkele Mene noted that the AfCFTA is working closely with the African Export-Import Bank to finalize a strategy for value chains development which will help countries without export and industrial capacity to develop the same in the next few years and ultimately move from being exporters of primary products to exporters of value-added products.

Junior Davis, Head of the Policy Analysis and Research Branch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Division for Africa, LDCs and Special Programmes noted that the higher share of intra-African trade in processed goods suggested the value of the Free Trade Agreement and regional integration.

Chinelo Anohu, the Senior Director at the Africa Investment Forum, while participating in a panel discussion and a question and answer session following the opening remarks, called for a decisive partnership. “There’s been a lot of talk, and a lot of research but now it’s time for action. And how do you have this action translate properly on the continent? By very quickly, clearly, concisely, looking at the transactions themselves.”

Anohu cited the abundance of capital and projects in Africa, while stressing the importance of project preparation and due diligence. She noted also that the Africa Investment Forum has been supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area through the Forum’s parent institution, the African Development Bank.

“We were very gratified to hear about the launch of the global gateway and the $300 billion initially earmarked for it,” she said of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, unveiled in late 2021.

“It’s a start, we’ll need a lot more, but this is something that is very exciting to us at the Africa Investment Forum, because it clearly charts a path where we can have a collaborative effort and ensure that deals on the continent have fruition,” she said.

The panel also included Kolyang Palabele, President of The Pan-African Farmers’ Organization.

This meeting could not have come at a more opportune moment given the opportunities that both the Africa Investment Forum and AfCFTA can harness to accelerate a strategic alliance between Europe and Africa through targeted trade and investment prospects.