African Development Bank urges UK investors to ‘ride the wave’ of free trade area
JOHANNESBURG – Africa is on the cusp of unmatched economic transformation after launching its free trade area last year, and the United Kingdom must engage the continent in a “partnership of change”, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has said.
Adesina told a symposium on the sidelines of a UK-Africa investment summit this week that the two should be significant trading partners, but the reality was that Britain’s trade with Africa was trending downwards.
“From a $49 billion peak in 2012, trade decreased to $30.6 billion in 2018,” he noted, adding:
“The fact that we are having this conversation in the UK parliament is a great start. The convening of this summit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson is an even greater start.”
Trading under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which represents a market of more than 1.3 billion people and a gross domestic product of US$2.5 trillion, making it the world’s largest free trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization, is expected to start in July.
Source: iol.co.za
