Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has disclosed that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is better positioned to leverage digital technology in payment and settlement systems.
Speaking in a meeting with the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr Wamkele Keabetswe Mene at the Jubilee House on digital technology, they deliberated on the unique opportunities the AfCFTA offers the African Continent to enhance unity and development by leveraging digital technology.
“With AfCFTA, we are better positioned to leverage digital technology for Pan-African Payment and Settlement Systems.
“The advantages of such transcontinental payment platforms and interoperability cannot be overemphasised and I look forward to that within the shortest time”.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Earlier, Mr. Mene had revealed the possibilities inherent in digital trade which he described as the next big thing in Africa. According to him, “from the experiences of various countries across the African continent”, one can access distant markets using a mobile phone.
“So, the digital platforms are already there. We also know that Africa has one of the fastest-growing penetrations of mobile subscribers. It is a question of leveraging all those technological innovations and advantages into a common platform for free trade in Africa, under the AfCFTA agreement”.
He further disclosed that in countries where women are most active and contribute significantly to the economy, there are examples of women who use digital solutions in informal trade.
“We seek to establish the requisite regulatory environment and architecture, through laws and digital platforms. The other area that is very important is customs authorities. We need to find a way to digitize our customs capabilities such that they are seamless across the continent. It is going to take quite a lot of work, but I believe it’s possible”.
Mr. Mene noted that during his appointment and election process, he identified young Africans and women in trade as segments of society that “we must bring with us, to benefit from the implementation of this agreement”. If it benefits only the big multinational corporations in Africa, he explained “it would have failed”.
“We are going to create a platform to engage young Africans, women in trade and small- and medium-sized enterprises in a dialogue to put this vision into practice. We don’t have all the answers. We want to hear from young Africans. We know that if you go to Kigali, you will find young African software engineers at the forefront of innovation.
“These are the people that we want to bring into the fold of the agreement. We can create the appropriate environment for young Africans to benefit. Our rule will be to establish the conducive environment for young Africans to leverage their ideas. This is especially important. We don’t have the answers to innovation, but we can create and establish regulatory frameworks within the context of the AfCFTA”.
Commenting on how to encourage countries to raise awareness among young people, he insists it’s going to be a joint effort between the Secretariat and individual countries. This, he stated can be achieved through advocacy and awareness-raising.
“We are going to engage each of the five regions of Africa through regional outreach and advocacy programs. We will work with national governments. So, we are going to roll out a robust awareness-raising campaign in the five regions, in a way that complements the efforts of individual governments”.
Ratified countries who operate outside AfCFTA will suffer- Louis Afful
