If intra-Africa trade is to grow,
we need to do it more efficiently,
says Cebisile Nyambe, national
project co-ordinator for public and
private procurement and the social
economy project (PPPSE) of the
International Labour Organisation.
“We are wasting time and money
at our borders. It is not simply
about exporting our products and
trading with each other or the
rest of the world. We must not
forget that this continent is heavily
affected by poverty. Trade is the
only way of changing that.”
It’s a sentiment shared by the
WTO and World Bank which has
published a report on the role of
trade in ending poverty.
“This report states that
improving the efficiency of trade is
the key component of development
and poverty reduction,” says
Nyambe.
She believes that in order
to increase cross-border trade
it’s necessary to connect more
people in rural regions with trade
opportunities while at the same
time formalising the large volumes
of informal trading that is taking
place.
