African leaders are passing judgment on the rules of the World Trade Organization. Designed by great economic powers, they hardly make room for African products. In this context, three African candidates are candidates for the head of the WTO.
A survey commissioned by the Pan-African Private Sector Trade and Investment Committee (Paftrac) assesses the views of African leaders on trade. Led by African Business (IC Publications group), in partnership with Afreximbank, it highlights the private sector’s desire for significant reforms to provide the global system with fairer and more transparent trade rules.
Some 200 business executives were interviewed on issues relating to the WTO and trade in general. The survey was conducted in the light of the second phase of the selection process for the institution’s next CEO. Three of the eight candidates are Africans: Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kenya Amina Mohamed and Egyptian Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh.
However, a majority consider that the WTO is not effective enough to fulfill its role. While infrastructure, logistics and human capital were cited as major challenges to growth in Africa, executives also mentioned biased international trade as a key constraint.
Benedict Oramah, president of Afreximbank, recalls that as a pan-African trade finance bank, his establishment has been mandated to house the Paftrac secretariat. “Any reform must support a booming African private sector and an increasingly integrated Africa,” he said.
“We have seen, during the last quarter of a century since the creation of the WTO, the emergence of a robust and dynamic African private sector and, more recently, important steps to integrate Africa”, continues Benedict Oramah. Which alludes to the agreement on the creation of the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area). “The WTO and its new leadership will need to recognize the imperative of African integration and put development at the center of any trade agenda.”
While the majority of CEOs believe the world trading system is unfair, most also see the multilateral system getting stronger in the years to come.
They present a package of reforms for a fairer and more transparent trading system. They ask to give a greater voice to emerging countries, and to review tariff and non-tariff barriers, especially in the area of agriculture and subsidies.
A fairer environment is more urgent than ever!
Executives are optimistic about the outlook for the future: over 50% of CEOs believe global trade will increase in the next twelve months; and over 70% of CEOs believe intra-African trade will increase in the next twelve months.
Pat Utomi, president of Paftrac, stressed that unless reform takes place, the current global crisis could further penalize Africa’s private sector. : “We have seen during this pandemic that companies in the industrialized world have received massive bailouts, tax aid, not to mention government contracts and state aid.”
African businesses have not been so fortunate and will face a world where commerce will be depressed due to the post-Covid environment. “Therefore, a fairer global trading environment is more urgent than ever.”
The poll, along with a debate on a statement to be sent to all contenders for WTO leadership, was presented in a webinar on September 10, hosted by Afreximbank.
Paftrac brings together African leaders from the private sector and provides a unique advocacy platform bringing together the African private sector and African policymakers to support extra and intra-African pan-African trade, investment and businesses.
The platform delivers pan-African results by providing a framework for private sector engagement in trade and investment issues in Africa, including policy formulation and trade negotiations to support African economies in line with the ambitions of the Agenda 2063: “The Africa we want.”
Paftrac strengthens advocacy and supports policy actions and private sector recommendations on trade and investment issues at national levels, trade corridors, regional and multilateral.
