By Nik Ogbulie (in Cairo)
As the 2023 Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) begins a gradual wind-down in Cairo, Egypt, Engr. Ahmed Mansur, Executive Director incharge of Stakeholder Management and Government Relations, of Dangote Group, told Moneyreport Magazine at the sidelines of the global event that he feels so happy to witness an impressive participation by Nigerians at the fair in spite of the huge economic difficulties.Mansur who was the President of African Manufacturers Association and a notable technocrat described the fair as quite impressive.”
I am glad to see quite a good number of Nigerians.i feel happy that our people are in tune with the opportunities the event offers them each time. Nigeria has tremendous opportunities to leverage what is going on even as our government officials are not here. I should expect more government officials than I saw at the event.
I expected to see at least 20 out of the 36 governors in the country.”Mansur noted that the space of the event is much better for the governors as one for investment purposes than for them travelling to China or Dubai in search of growth opportunities in developing their economy. He noted that the IATF is a global market and all the partners are available and easy to access.
On the very poor volume of trade going on between African countries, he noted that the current level of 17% is still work in progress and trade between Africans will eventually continue to grow and there are strong indications that the movement has started. He said that the poor volume is part of the reason for AfCFTA , and its effectiveness has becme quite obvious in many ways.
“The most important idea is to grow that proportion. It is important to explore the emerging activities because what is important here is full participation, so that the dream will begin to earn very huge traction within a space of time.”, Mansur noted.He feels good that many countries are opening up their boundaries and this would encourage the continent to move forward..”For me, the most important thing is that AfCFTA grows the opportunities for change to happen”, he ssid.
He explains that if some countries can open their boundaries, we can be sure that the trend for growth in intra African trade may have started..He believes that the opening of borders would not happen over-night but it must happen one day.The Dangote chief sees IATF as a fore-running for the much desired African trade which believed to drive the expected industrialization of the African continent.
