Leaders reaffirmed their determination to ensure that Africa’s industrialisation is financed in a predictable manner.
Ten key points that African leaders committed to at the Summit on industrialisation and economic diversification held in Niger, Niamey last year.
With increasingly growing concern over the slow progress in the implementation of the Industrial Development Decades for Africa (IDDA) I, II and III, the Strategy for the Implementation of the Action Plan for Accelerated Industrial development of Africa (AIDA), and other continental strategies and programmes relevant to industrialisation, structural transformation and development towards the achievement of the African Union Agenda 2063, African leaders have committed to far-reaching and firm decisions to accelerate industrialisation, economic diversification and trade on the continent, with full ownership by the citizens.
The leaders reaffirmed their determination to ensure that Africa’s industrialisation and economic diversification are financed in a predictable manner and with the urgency of identifying and addressing the impediments to productivity and growth through infrastructural development, energy, access to finance, digitalisation, innovation, and skills development to achieving economic diversification.
Here are highlights of the key commitment points at the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Industrialisation and Economic Diversification and the Extraordinary Session on the African Continental Free Trade Area convened in Niamey, Niger, on November 25, 2022.
Relatedly, the African Union Commission and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) will prepare a feasibility study on the establishment of an African Manufacturing Institute to support member states and the private sector in the development of modern manufacturing skills and fostering innovation in the sector that will accompany the ongoing structural economic transformation in Africa.
Working with development partners, the African Union will also produce and disseminate amongst member states, an annual Africa’s Industrial Development Report base on an African Industrial Development Index, and fast-track the establishment of the African Industrial Observatory.
The leaders called on the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to support the implementation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) under the Guided Trade Initiative in collaboration with the African Civil Aviation Commission, African airlines and other relevant stakeholders. Further, the Secretariat is expected to fast-track the implementation of a work programme related to the Annexes for Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), specifically in the areas of standards harmonisation.
For more details on the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Industrialisation and Economic Diversification, visit: https://au.int/en/summit-africa-industrialization-economic