Africa Destiny – AfCTA: Integration or Dislocation – African

African leaders have suddenly become believers in the benefits of international trade liberalism which have difficulty in countering and therefore fall back on the plane of the African continent. Africa has 43 members out of the 162 members of the World Trade Organization and African countries represent more than a quarter of the players in this institution. The WTO is moribund and was neutralized by the current and overlap of regional free trade agreements and especially by the fact that no agreement of universal scope has been concluded since 1995, when the Organization was created. “disaster” .

Faced with the protectionism of the current administration in Washington, African leaders continue to nurture a regionalized devotion to liberalism that is coupled with a return to the fold. These two vectors therefore allow African decision-makers to identify in free trade a mechanism that should make it possible to increase trade between African countries and strengthen Africa’s integration. Africa is not yet out of the mill since at the level of the world trading system, Africa continues to be reduced to a simple statistical indicator: less than 2 percent of world trade.

Railways and Path of African Integration

Africa’s inability to take advantage of its openness to trade is explained by the fact that it integrates into world trade from a low-value position and low producer of added value and wealth. Its status is that of a supplier of basic products and raw materials in very limited numbers, which confines it to the bottom of the global value chains.
Moreover, because of the hasty liberalization policies that African countries have experienced in the past, their efforts to industrialize, develop and transform raw materials and diversify have been thwarted, or destroyed, by the sudden and brutal competition imported products.
The reduction of their political space as well as the loss of sovereignty and control over their own instruments of economic and commercial policies born in this period continue to handicap many countries.
The train had in all the economies of the world, an addition of logistical value which is concentrated primarily in the movement of goods and manufactured products and other natural primary resources. This value transfer function between the various regions and urban metropolises was and continues to be the first and most profitable macroeconomic operation that has effects and impacts on the entire economic fabric and the growth of the circulation of value and its multiplication under the effects of the expansion of the market and the corresponding demand.
We are developing economic and structural integration with productive and operational complementarity both in terms of services and finished products or equipment and other consumption.
The train serves as a transmission belt between the various and complementary niches and the various Hubs as well as the major growth sectors and the creation of added value and high added value. This attribution can thus contribute in the financing and the launching of new technologies of transport and transformation of the circuits of the circulation and the distribution of the innovative goods.

Africa Tech Move: Social Cost or Possibility of Financial Cost

“Trade integration has been a powerful tool to elevate growth and improve living standards. […] Nevertheless, some people have been left behind in recent years as technology and robotization have squeezed the wages of certain communities “of workers, comments Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF.Advertisement

Should Morocco’s trade deficit for the year 2017 be placed in this explanation. This deficit in Morocco’s trade balance widened by 2.6%, according to the latest statistics delivered by the Foreign Exchange Office on Tuesday 16 January. The difference between the country’s exports and its imports thus amounts to 189.8 billion dirhams (16.7 billion euros), against 185 billion dirhams the previous year. This is the second consecutive year that the trade deficit has increased.

Morocco finds in Sub-Saharan Africa the counterweight to the imbalances experienced by Western economies. To protect ourselves, we are witnessing the break-ups and the questioning of trade agreements, Brexit, the draft regional trans-Pacific agreement (TPP), Alena (Nafta) and the Transatlantic Partnership (TTIP or Tafta) . At the same time, Western chancelleries are opting for the establishment of foreign policy based on their protectionist armada such as the administrative barriers of “quota”, the measures of stop of the migratory flows and that like decisions imposed by their unstable economic situation. These rantings had all weakened or reduced the growth of trade both with Morocco and the rest of Africa, giving impetus to the regionalization of trade and the search for outlets through a host of association, integration and of free trade.

A more fierce competition had thus infiltrated the commercial exchanges whose globalization had welded the links of its international chain. Africa must therefore return to its own local, regional and peripheral resources and potentialities by strengthening the rapprochement between its economic components, namely the Regional Economic Communities and bilateral trade, financial, cultural and in this case harmonization of the Digital Economy with the Knowledge Economy.

Free Trade, Entrepreneurial Eduction, Digitall Economy and Knowledge Economy in Africa

It is through the establishment of a digital economy that those responsible for foreign trade and international financial relations can have access to reliable data and closer management of flows and their cyclical changes. The corresponding data can facilitate decision-making like any sectoral intervention without calling into question the commitments made to the rest of Africa and the world with which Morocco has cultural and commercial exchange treaties.

African leaders on Wednesday, March 23, 2018 signed three major economic agreements during the extraordinary session of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, creating a Continental Free Trade Area (Zlec), perceived as essential to Africa’s economic development, through increased intra-African trade.

Some 44 countries signed the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area, while 43 heads of state signed the Kigali declaration for the launch of Zlec and 27 signed protocols relating to the free movement of people, right to residence and right of establishment.

Zlec gives birth to the largest free trade area in the world since the World Trade Organization which was established in 1995. Nineteen presidents attended as a number of prime ministers and government officials also signed for their respective countries.

Heavyweights, such as Morocco, Egypt, Kenya and yet very protectionist Algeria, have signed the agreement, which will enter into force within 180 days, after being ratified by the signatory countries.

“Some countries have reservations and have not yet finalized their national consultations. But we will have another summit in Mauritania in July and we hope these countries will sign then,” said AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga.

Eleven countries out of the fifty-four countries of the AU are still missing, including Nigeria, whose President Muhammadu Buhari had decided not to make the trip to Kigali, after one of the largest unions in the country, Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC), had expressed its fears on the negative effects of the Zlec for the national economy. This union had also asked to be more involved in the negotiations and Mr. Buhari had agreed to “give more time to consultations”. Nigeria was one of the first economies on the continent, which had nevertheless coordinated the negotiations with Egypt. Other countries that have not signed the agreement include South Africa, Benin, countries seeking taxes especially on products transiting through their ports or roads, including Eritrea, Burundi,

Zlec must allow the gradual elimination of customs duties between member countries, thus promoting trade within the continent and allowing African countries to emancipate themselves from an economic system that is too focused on the exploitation of raw materials. The AU estimates that the implementation of Zlec will increase the level of intra-African trade by nearly 60% by 2022. Currently, only 16% of African countries’ trade is with other countries on the continent.

If the 55 member countries of the AU sign the document, the Zlec will open access to a market of 1.2 billion people, for a cumulative GDP of more than 2,500 billion dollars. Its advocates believe it will help diversify African economies and industrialize the continent, while providing a unique platform to negotiate better trade deals with the outside world. Zlec is one of the key projects highlighted by the AU in its Agenda 2063, a long-term development program that aims to facilitate the flow of goods and people on the continent. At its last summit, in January in Addis Ababa, the AU had thus announced the creation of a single and liberalized market for air transport, including 23 countries of the continent.

Under the theme: “Creating an African Market”, the initiative falls under the AU Agenda 2063 It is estimated that if all 55 AU Member States ratify it, the agreement will bring together 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$2 billion.

At the same time, we propose the creation of a Common African Education Market (MACEA) to harmonize this momentum of commercial integration and transfer of values across the borders of Africa. Similarly, it is in digital education that Morocco can explore the infrastructural, logistical and technological resources to draw on and establish the digital foundations for strengthening its position as a partner – competitor in its attempts to integrate both in the international, African market as well as for its candidacy for the Emerging Countries Square.

Knowledge Economy is to be privileged in the formation of new strata of entrepreneurs who can form a new “Digital Technocracy” capable of guiding and exploring new horizons and digital applications in order to be able to coordinate and interconnect the different entrepreneurial resources in the same “ One Stop Shop” in order to have ease and efficiency in accessing, processing and formulating decisions and solutions that can help move up a gear in their entrepreneurial innovative momentum.

For this reason, we also propose the creation of an American Institute of Entrepreneurship in Africa in order to contribute in the establishment of the first milestones of such an enterprise and such a need, that of integrating the Digital Economy and the Economy. knowledge to strengthen regional economic integration in Morocco and within Africa (see details in the presentation below).

Disadvantages Facing Africa Integration: Tech Hurdles and Lack of Compatibility Among African Techs and Ecosystems

NOVEMBER 30, 2021 MOROCCO AND WORLD AFFAIRS – NETWORK OF PUBLIC MEDIA

Africa Computing and Free Trade Integration

Dr. Said El Mansour Cherkaoui 9/11/2020 – El Jadida – Morocco – Oakland – California

What are the prominent hurdles and hindrances for the Integration of Africa through Ecommerce and Digital Business

★ Inadequate terrestrial broadband backbone
★ High costs of broadband access (last-mile) limit growth of the cloud-computing market
★ Poor quality of service hampers growth of cloud-computing services
★ Limited power supply hinders growth cloud-computing market
★ Absence of data protection and security legislation.

★ Informal Economy ★

★ Ecommerce ★ Digitalization ★ Africa ★

“In Africa, the provision of cloud services is mostly supply-side driven, with global and some local IT companies acting as intermediaries, with a few exceptions, where South African-owned companies with a pan-African reach, like Dimension Data and Internet Solutions compete directly with the global players and large local IT companies, like Seven Seas Technologies in Kenya.

On the other hand, telecommunications companies are trying to differentiate their offerings and broaden their revenue streams by leveraging their existing infrastructure and offering cloud services. The services offered by these entities can be differentiated between those intended for large-scale enterprise purposes, SMEs, individual end user, or for personal use. The focus until now has been on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS), which is where cloud development is and where issues of competitiveness will become most pertinent; all of which raise distinct questions around business modelling and regulatory challenges.” (2)

EMPLOYMENT AND INFORMAL ECONOMY IN AFRICA

**Designer, Producer, Salesman and Self-Employed with Merchandising in the Front Street Store** **– Individual Ownership Micro-Enterprise**

In Africa, data collected at the firm level is too limited to allow cross-country comparisons and support policy decisions. In most African countries, industrial censuses are not systematic.

Most African businesses are less productive than their international competitors. The Africa-Asia productivity ratio of the workforce fell from 67% in 2000 to 50% in 2018. Agriculture accounts for 50% of total employment and in some African countries, almost 91% of the non-agricultural workforce still works in the informal sector while the productive structure in Africa, 22% of the net creation of employment are from recent small enterprises. (1)

Informal employment as a percentage of non-agricultural employment

The growth of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) since the 2000s has neither created enough quality jobs nor brought about sufficient improvement in the well-being of the population. The African continent will have to succeed in absorbing the 29 million young people who will enter the labor market each year between now and 2030. By comparison, they were only 14 million new entrants per year between 2000 and 2015. In addition , 282 million workers are currently in precarious employment and, despite their work, 30% are unable to lift themselves out of poverty.

AFRICA HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: African “Laureates” crossing the Sea

African “Laureates” crossing the Sea
Globalisation and Street Canvas
Informal Food Stand
Next Generation of African Educated Youth under the Sun
Africa Immigrants on the Top of the Line
French Startup Laureates in Silicon Valley
Africa Immigrants Seeking better condition on the other side of the border

Africa Immigrants in the Sea
African “Laureates” crossing the Sea
Globalisation Matress, Street Canvas and Subcapitalism Social Madness

The informal business sector, which provides livelihoods for the majority of poor Africans, is an untapped market for the provision of public cloud services via mobile phone. Given the lack of a power supply shortage in most African markets, cloud computing presents an attractive preposition-value for those who wish to eliminate the high costs of investing in infrastructure. However, power outages can deter adoption of cloud services.

There is a need for an efficient, Effective, Available and Affordable Cloud Computing covering and connecting Africa made and managed by Africans that fits and responds to the cultural and regional specificity of African Traders [Maline Schoukara – les Boursiers de la Rue – System Débrouillardise] and African Ecommerce by the Informal Retail Sector, the Informal Services and the Entrepreneurial Start Tech.

The focus should be first made and conducted through the scope of the recent creation of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to establish a technological and logistical frame to deal with the important problem of the transformation of these informal units into real Digital Small, Medium and Micro Businesses.

One of the path can be the establishment of a sub-regional exchange network to promote transfers and exchanges of knowledge and experiences between small producers from different countries in a South-South perspective, thus helping to broaden the horizons of small producers.

African Continental Free Trade Area

The AfCFTA Country Business Index: Understanding private sector involvement in the AfCFTA: The narrative around a successful African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—its potential to increase intra-African trade by 15 to 25 percent, or $50 billion to $70 billion—is promising, but if African businesses do not efficiently utilize this landmark agreement, its ultimate success will be limited.

Since the private sector is directly involved in cross-border trade, it is a major stakeholder and beneficiary of the AfCFTA.

Thus, to better understand how African businesses are approaching the AfCFTA and, more importantly, how the AfCFTA can best support those businesses through trade, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) created the AfCFTA Country Business Index (ACBI).

Creating One African Market

The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. It is a high ambition trade agreement, with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy, such as digital trade and investment protection, amongst other areas. By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the AfCFTA is to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy. … READ MORE

The ACBI is a new AfCFTA-focused, ease-of-doing business index and is based on a robust theoretical framework and data collection process. It enables relevant policy makers to identify bottlenecks in intra African trade at a country level, which informs the barriers impeding effective AfCFTA implementation from the perspective of the private sector.

It aims to inform African policymakers on the trade barriers and guide AfCFTA national strategies.

The ACBI aims to ensure that the African Continental Free Trade Area delivers on its projected sustainable development promises, especially for women-owned and small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

The ACBI captures three dimensions relevant to the understanding of the AfCFTA and related negotiations:

1. The ease of trading goods across Africa;
2. Firm awareness and use of African free trade agreements (FTAs) and the AfCFTA;
3. Business environment related to trade in services, intra-African investment, intellectual property rights, and competition policy. https://lnkd.in/eBSunxsu

✈️ African Continental Free Trade Area

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to transform African economies and lead to an increase in intraregional trade and inward investment. There is much progress on negotiations but the ultimate benefits depend on the way AfCFTA commitments are implemented. National AfCFTA Implementation Committees (NICs) can help in this endeavour.

The year 2023 is the African Union (AU) Year of Acceleration of AfCFTA Implementation. In line with the Decision of the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (the AU Assembly), held on 1–2 July 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Member States are required to set up NICs to facilitate implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement.

This has led to much interest in Member States in what effective NICs look like and what they do. The role of the AfCFTA Secretariat in supporting the formation and operation of NICs is paramount. Two features associated with the AfCFTA project are important for implementation.

First, AfCFTA implementation structures will need to be designed in ways that align well with existing trade negotiations and implementation structures. Second, the AfCFTA is not only a Free Trade Agreement but also a trade strategy involving a range of complementary instruments that address implementation, monitoring, payment systems, adjustment and industrial policy.

This briefing, aimed at the AfCFTA community concerned with implementing the AfCFTA, identifies appropriate institutional forms for NICs as well as 10 core functions that effective implementation agencies will carry out. It also outlines a potential five-step AfCFTA template for effective NIC formation and operation.

Read more on this briefing at this link:

AfCFTA implementation to increase growth and investment in Africa

Trade, Industry and Competition Acting Director-General, Malebo Thompson, says the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to accelerate growth […] July 27, 2023

From negotiations to implementation: Building Effective AfCFTA National Implementation Committees

From-negotiations-to-implementation-18-Apr-23 Download

https://au-afcfta.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ODI-AfCFTA_NICs-PolicyBrief-18Apr23-FINAL.pdf

Africa Integration and World Economic Competition

Said El Mansour Cherkaoui January 9, 2023 – AFRICANA ENTREPRISE MoroccoTech Tate Yoko Research Institute – TRI Africana Enterprise ★ https://africanaenterprise.wordpress.com/ Africana Enterprise ★ https://africanaentreprise.weebly.com/ Africa Context – Africanation… Read More