‘Africa must focus on intra-regional trade’

Increasing Africa’s intraregional trade is a sure way to bring about prosperity across the continent in the next forty years, said Hennie Heymans, managing director of Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands for DHL Express. “In Latin America some 35% of trade is intra-regional. In Asia it is around 40% and in Europe a whopping 70%. In Africa it is only 12%. The aim is to increase this to at least 30% in the next decade.” Heymans said the impact of such a move on the supply chain would be huge. “We have some serious challenges to overcome in Africa to reach this target of 30%, with Customs being the first. Simplifying our procedures when we move cargo between the countries in Africa is very important as well as removing and not just reducing the non-tariff barriers that we have. We also need to look at upgrading infrastructure across the continent be it for the movement of freight by road, sea or air.” According to Heymans, it is important to start regionally and develop clearance systems that work across southern Africa before moving further afield. “We must be in positions to benefit from the opportunities being presented to Africa as rising emerging economies. For example the finding of liquid gas in Mozambique is a massive opportunity but before production can even start they will have to spend some $18 billion to build infrastructure to allow for extraction of the gas.”