Ambassador Ahmed Haggag, the Union of African Journalists (UAJ) Advisor, has called on African Journalists to increase advocacy on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to help expedite the continent’s development.
Addressing some African Journalists in Cairo, Egypt, Ahmed Haggag stated that the AfCFTA promises broader and deeper economic integration for Africa and that closing the knowledge gap would enable Africans to better grasp and harness its benefits for the continent’s shared prosperity.
Ambassador Haggag pointed out that while the agreement is a deal breaker for the continent, there is the need for purposeful advocacy to make it work. “It is imperative to create an advocacy for the AfCFTA, and I charge you Journalists to be advocates by spreading the news around it,” he said.
Ambassador Haggag, who is also the Secretary General of the Africa Society, encouraged African Journalists to get involved in the AfCFTA’s activities, noting that the Agreement would reduce the cost of trading within the continent.
The Union of African Journalists (UAJ) opened the 57th Training for Young African Journalists at the National Radio and Television house of Egypt in Cairo.
The journalists, from 14 African countries, are taking part in a training programme for Young African Journalists in Cairo, Egypt. The three-week program, which began on Saturday, from September 16 to October 5, 2023 with an official opening ceremony, will take participants through several pertinent topics affecting the continent.
The Journalists are from Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Egypt.
Twenty young journalists drawn from the above African countries and Presidents of five selected media unions on the continent are participating in the programme being organised by the Training and Media studies Center (TMSC) in Egypt, in collaboration with the country’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR).
The Topics Under Deliberation
The topics range from political, economic and media-related issues. In all, 13 young Journalists from the continent, five Egyptian Journalists and Presidents of selected media union/association are in Cairo for the session. The three weeks’ program will take participants through a series of pertinent topics, ranging from political and economic to other media related topics.
By eliminating barriers to trade in Africa, the objective of the AfCFTA is to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa’s economy.
Since its launch and establishment of its secretariat in Accra, Ghana there have been promotional activities from both public and private organisations to ensure a cheaper and effective trade among African countries. Apart from conferences and other sensitization programmes, participating countries have also developed country-specific policies to enhance its effective implementation in the continent.
It is believed that the three thematic basic areas of services Trade, Trade Finance, and Logistics are the fundamentals in articulating ways of enhancing intra Africa trade, regional integration, trade liberalization, trade policies, and practices of the African continent.
They therefore focus on staying current with the business environment in Ghana and beyond using knowledge not only from domestic resources but also from the African Continent as well.
This connection of knowledge from the local and continental business environments i.e. business executives, policy makers, and subject matter experts seems to be the right direction to exhilarate the business communities in Africa and also serve as a major driving force moving Africa as a bloc in the global trade.
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