Herald Reporter
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has urged Zimbabwe to deploy deliberate strategies towards ensuring the private sector, a key stakeholder in production and trade, is strategically positioned to exploit larger market opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to promote industrialisation, economic diversification promoting the manufacturing sector and stimulating agricultural production.

Speaking at a workshop organised by Government, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the ECA in Harare on Tuesday, ECA economic affairs officer, Mr Batanai Chikwene said the private sector was key in the implementation of the AfCFTA.

The workshop was attended by representatives from Zimbabwe’s private sector; Government departments; United Nations agencies and other key stakeholders.

Mr Chikwene said it was important that Zimbabwe addresses the supply-side constraints limiting the productive capacity of its industry to stimulate competitiveness and growth.

“Ensuring coherence among fiscal, monetary policy, national industrial policies and trade promotion initiatives is critical. AfCFTA is opening up new market opportunities in Africa beyond the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) which are the country’s traditional destinations and sources of exports and imports.

“It is time for the private sector to look beyond neighbouring countries and explore trade and investment opportunities in the rest of continent in both trade in goods and trade in services,” he said.

He said for AfCFTA to be fully realised, it had to be backed up by increased productive capacity, enhanced regional value chains, and removal of internal obstacles to promote the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises so that Zimbabwean companies can compete well in the liberalised regional market.

Mr Chikwene said through strategic actions, Government working with the private sector, can leverage the AfCFTA for Zimbabwe’s re-industrialisation and economic diversification as well as promoting the manufacturing sector and stimulating agricultural production.

“Key reforms are required to ensure that industrialisation, trade and investment generate optimum benefits for Zimbabwe. These include reforms in the areas of trade facilitation, infrastructure development, doing business reforms to create a better conducive environment for the private sector, product quality and standards and the general policy environment, its consistency, clarity and stability to facilitate the evolution of a competitive industrial sector able to capture opportunities arising from the AfCFTA,” he said.

Mr Chikwene congratulated Zimbabwe for featuring in the Top-20 improvers in Doing Business 2020.

The country has made regulatory improvements in five areas measured by Doing Business resulting in starting a business becoming easier than it was a few years ago.

“As tariffs go down in the African single market, these are the kind of reforms that will give Zimbabwean operators an urge as they compete globally,” he said.

AUC, trade and industry division representative, Ms Beatrice Claudia Chaytor   said AfCFTA presented several opportunities for Zimbabwe with expectations of boosting of intra-African trade in excess of 70 percent through the dismantling of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the use of tools launched during the AU’s Niamey Summit in July.

“These possibilities exist for both large conglomerates and small and medium-sized enterprises. Such businesses usually struggle to penetrate more advanced overseas markets, but are well positioned to tap into regional export destinations and can use regional markets as stepping stones for expanding into overseas markets at a later point,” she said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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