From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Africa Economic Summit 2024 has just ended in Abuja, Nigeria, with a decry of the embarrassing situation of food scarcity and unbridled food inflation in the continent.
Participants at the event with the theme: “Africa – Riding the crest of global economic and political volatility,” declared that Africa must set a date to stop importing all manner of food.
A communiqué by the President of the Africa Economic Summit 2024, Dr. Sam Ohuabunwa and the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Economic Summit Group, Dr. Brian Reuben, noted that beyond dealing with enhanced food security, African nations needed to adopt new schemes that resolve the trinity of challenge that currently beset agriculture.
Also, the summiteers urged countries in Africa to take advantage inherent in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) protocols to boost their economies and leapfrog food security in the sub-Saharan region.
This follows the revelation that Africa currently has the lowest inter-regional trade across the world (which represents only about 13 per cent of the Continent’s Global Trade, compared to Asia’s 60 per cent).
They noted the urgent need for African countries to have a global outlook and aggravate sufficient resources to compete favourably with others such as the United States of America, China, India, among others.
According to the communiqué, the Summit resolved that African nations must quickly embrace the AfCFTA protocols and quickly dismantle all obstacles to the full consummation of the agreement.
It then called on the African Union (AU) to set a target of at least 30 per cent of Intra-African trade by 2030.