Minister calls for value chain mapping for Africa
THE resilience and sustainability of African economies lies in scaling up value addition as opposed to continued exportation of raw commodities, Industry and Commerce Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza, has said.
Speaking at the Joint Meeting for African Union (AU) Ministers of Industry and Commerce in Niamey, Niger on Monday, Dr Nzenza said industrialisation and economic diversification of the African continent were critical towards transforming livelihoods and realising collective prosperity.
She said Zimbabwe has already aligned its development framework to the industrial transformation ideals, as expressed in the Government’s National Development Strategy (NDS1).
“Just as the history of industrialisation is connected in Africa, the future of industrialisation is ours to collectively design,” said the minister.
“The resilience and sustainability of our economies lies in value addition as opposed to export of raw commodities.”
She urged regional peers to be conscious of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which connects to the AU Agenda 2063 and global sustainable development goals by 2030, as well as the 3rd
Industrial Development Decade for Africa on industrialisation and economic diversification.
According to Dr Nzenza, industrialisation and diversification of African economies lies in strategic and high-level collective commitment to increase intra-Africa trade and penetration of global value chains.
To this end, she said Zimbabwe’s National Industrial Development Policy, which provides the foundation for the structural transformation of industry and commerce, already takes care of these considerations.
To steer the regional industrialisation momentum, Dr Nzenza urged the AU Secretariat to “further undertake value chain mapping for Africa” in order for regional countries to tap into each other’s strengths for industrialisation and trade.
Dr Sekai Nzenza
“In pursuit of that, Zimbabwe has undertaken sector specific strategies under His Excellency’s mantra ‘moving the economy up the value chains’ as espoused in the NDS1,” she said.
“This has registered a success story for the Zimbabwean industry with increased capacity utilisation, investment and export-oriented growth.”
She said the targeted private sector led growth approach acknowledges mutual aspirations and collective responsibility between governments, development finance institutions, regional and international bodies in economic development.
The minister reiterated Zimbabwe’s commitment to the regional “Made in Africa” initiative saying the future of industrialisation in Africa would be made possible through collective aspirations and strategies.
She hinted on the joint Zimbabwe and Zambia project to establish a Common Agro-Industrial Park based on comparative advantages in the agricultural sector as a starting point for strengthening regional cooperation.
“This will be the first of its kind in the Southern Africa,” she said, adding: “The challenges brought about by the global pandemics and shocks represent new opportunities for diversification, innovation and self-reliance anchored on strengthening of interlinkages for regional and continental value chains.”chronicle.cl.zw
