Hasten free movement across the continent to boost intra-African trade, African states told

Arso president Botsile Kebapetse in Mombasa on Monday / BRIAN OTIENO

Free movement of people across Africa is key to ensuring intra-African trade is increased, the Africa Organization for Standardization (Arso) has said.

Arso president Botsile Kebapetse lamented that Africa is not trading among itself as much as it trades with other continents and linked this to the lack of free movement among the African countries.

“Most of African countries are exporting goods outside Africa as opposed to exporting and importing goods amongst ourselves,” the Botswana national said.

Speaking at the 73^rd council meeting and 16th Arso champions meeting in Mombasa on Monday, Kebapetse said African countries must make it easy for themselves to trade amongst each other.

Kenya Bureau of Standards managing director Esther Ngari said it is important to create systems that will enable trade within Africa.

She noted that one way of supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is through harmonization of standards and to eliminate trade barriers that have existed over a long period of time.

The AfCFTA is a free trade agreement signed in 2018 to create a single continental market for goods and services across 55 African Union member states. 

Its main objective is to boost intra-Africa trade by eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers, while also promoting investment, industrialization, and economic integration. 

Kebapetse said AfFCTA does not only talk about goods but also free movement of people.

“Is it going to be easy for us to achieve? Remember, for you to engage in a business, you need a business meeting. You can’t always engage virtually. You also need to be looking at the person you are dealing with especially when you are starting your business,” Kebapetse said.

He said AfFCTA will not be achieved only through standardization but also through the pillars that need to facilitate standardization.

“And that is about people moving freely within Africa. It is about people being able to engage easily. Once that is done, it will make things easier,” the Arso president said.

The AfFCTA is a major step towards better standardization because it is an effector of unity.

Kebapetse said they are keen on uniting African countries under one banner and standard like in other continents like the European Union, which has one standard for all European countries.

“That is why it’s important for us to come together to make sure we are able to facilitate the implementation of the AfCFTA,” he said.

He noted that their mission is to encourage and facilitate intra-trading in Africa to ensure that Africa enjoys the riches and wealth of Africa are enjoyed by Africans within Africa.

“That can only take place and be achieved effectively through harmonization of standards because with harmonization of standards we will be taking care of and reducing technical barriers to trade,” the Arso president said.

Importing countries’ first concern is quality of the products they import, he said.

Arso secretary general Hermogene Nsengimana said the council will be approving 123 more harmonized standards during the meeting in Mombasa.

The new harmonized standards will add to the already existing 2,440 harmonized standards in Africa in different sectors, including agro-processing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, transport and communication, textile and leather, among others.

“We will also be looking at how we implement our quality mark for the continent where we will see if you conform to the harmonized standard so that your product can be sold across Africa without being retested,” Nsengimana said.

Kebapetse said the 2,440 harmonized standards for the continent accounts for 25 per cent of AfFCTA trade tariffs.

“We still have more standards to harmonize for us to be able to achieve the trade lines. We still have 75 per cent left and that is a tall order for African states,” the Arso president said.

“But is it easy for us to travel across African countries as Africans? Before we talk of standards, are we united as a continent at political levels, our customs and immigration? All those political matters have to be dealt with so that they can facilitate everybody that is non-political,” the president said.

Although he acknowledged that there is a lot of progress, there is still a lot to be done in terms of making sure that whenever we want to meet and do our work.....

INSTANT ANALYSIS:

Arso was formed in 1977 with the principal mandate to harmonize African standards, conformity assessment and procedures in order to reduce technical barriers to trade and promote intra-African international trade as well as enhance the industrialization of Africa.