Creating one African market is only but just a dream if we do not collaborate
REFILOE MODISENYANE
Oct 25, 2022
Ambassador Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat urges delegates in the automotive industry at the inaugural South Africa Auto Week, to invest and be deliberate in the collaboration of establishing a common market that will accelerate the industrialisation of the African continent. The global GDP percentage contribution of Africa, a continent is fractionally lower than that of Singapore, a city-state island country. The Ambassador asked in response to this, what resources are required to propel the local (African) content growth for the automotive industry?
“Africa’s challenge is South Africa’s opportunity.”
How do ensure that the rest of Africa is as competitive in the automotive and component sector as are Morocco and South Africa currently. We need to ensure that the African continent is global market competitor. As we find opportunities to create one African market, we take comfort in South Africa’s overall growth, because “Africa’s challenge is South Africa’s opportunity”.
“WE are today in Africa, where the EU was 72 years ago!”
We need to identify the opportunity constraints that continue to stagnate the growth of the African GDP footprint in the global society. Africa remains highly risk averse and therefore investment trade remains relatively low. This does not conversely mean that we need to circumvent the investment criteria that have to be adhered to in order to encourage the investment climate.
One of the key questions in the industry is trying to understand how the African market contributes to the transitioning of motor vehicles from internal combustion engines (ICE) into electrical vehicles (EV). “WE are today in Africa, where the EU was 72 years ago!
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