AUC seeks single manufacturers’ body to drive trade

NDAMU SANDU IN CAIRO, EGYPT

The African Union Commission is pushing for an amalgamation of all manufacturers’ associations to create a single body that will build capacity to enjoy the benefits of an enlarged market, as it seeks to drive growth in intra-African trade.

The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries is a representative body for local manufacturers.

The new body, to be either named Africa Manufacturers Association or Pan African Manufacturers Association, will build capacity for an enlarged market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) signed by heads of States in March to create one of the largest single markets in the world.

AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga said on Saturday, the body would represent the interest of African manufacturers association.

“The Africa Manufacturers Association is a key institution that will build economies of scale for the AfCTA market. It will afford the AUC an opportunity to work closely with the manufacturing sector of the continent to build the requisite capacity
to produce for the enlarged AfCTA market. We will mainstream the Association into our Work programmes for an enriched exchange on industry and trade policy related subject, to build a competitive business environment in the continent,” he said.

The interim association is led by Mansur Ahmed, executive director Dangote Limited.
Asked when the association would be in place, Muchanga said: “We agreed with the interim steering committee that they are going to reach out to all manufacturers association in Africa. Our target is that we should be able to formalise it during the Africa Industrialisation
Week next year.”

Asked whether they had reached out to associations on the continent before setting up the interim committee, Muchanga said the continental body would ensure that regions are represented in the association.

“There is no dominance by one country. There are two interim secretaries Nigeria and Kenya. At the end of the day, we are going to have a bureau which respects geographical balance and gender balance,” he said in response to Business Times inquiries on how the interim steering committee had been constituted.

Ahmed said it should not be too difficult to bring all the umbrella associations together.
“We took a decision as a steering committee that within three months we are going to engage regional and country bodies to bring all associations together,” he said.

Edem Adzogenu, Senior Advisor for the Executive Committee of the AfroChampions Initiative said Africa has capacity to make a difference despite the challenges the continent faces in terms of costs of doing business.

“We see this development as a grand opportunity for the continent’s private sector to help strengthen manufacturing through regional value chains. This Association will provide the continent an opportunity to build the capacity of small and medium enterprises on the continent,” Adzogenu said.

The AfroChampions Initiative seeks to forge innovative partnerships between the private and public sector that facilitate the birth of a critical mass of African multinational companies and their graduation into African global giants.

According to a scheduled programme, the founder of the AfroChampions and the Head of Industry in the African Union Commission would assist in mobilising manufacturers from Central and North Africa respectively to participate in the inaugural meeting of the proposed Association set be held during the 2nd quarter of 2019.

The first meeting of the proposed Association is to be held after a conference on Transforming African Manufacturing to Supply the AfCFTA market to be organised by the African Union Commission meant to develop a viable regional value chains to promote specialisation and win-win outcomes on the continent.

The inaugural meeting of the African manufacturers is envisaged to adopt the draft Articles of Association, elect a bureau, and agree on the institutional framework and seat of the association.

The meeting will also appoint a substantive secretariat which will be tasked to prioritise registration of the Association as a key deliverable on its inception work programme.

After the registration of the association, a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Association and the African Union Commission would be drawn up and signed.

Through the MOU, the Association would be invited to the Meetings of the Specialised Technical Committee on Trade, Industry and Mining to engage policy makers on strategic subjects of industry and trade that have a bearing on improving the business – enabling regime, and competitiveness among others.

Africa’s manufacturers’ concerns include counterfeit goods, intellectual property rights, rules of origin and high cost of doing business, Muchanga said.

The creation of a continental manufacturers’ association is part of a drive to boost intra-African trade which is at 15 percent compared to Europe (59 percent), Asia (51 percent) and North America at 37 percent.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa estimates that AfCFTA would increase intra-African trade by about $35 billion a year by 2022 thereby lifting millions out of poverty.

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