Africa has a mixture of competing and overlapping trade areas that support the growth of intra-African trade, namely the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the west, the East African Community (EAC) in the east, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the south, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in the east and south.
The volume of intra-African trade amounted to about 159 billion dollars in 2018, with a growth rate of 17% compared to 2017, where intra-African trade represented about 16% of the total trade of the African continent with various countries of the world.
South Africa is well positioned in the African continent because it is surrounded by African countries and accounts for 23% of the volume of intra-regional trade in the continent.
Before the global Corona crisis, most expectations were confirmed by the increase in the volume of intra-African trade from 16% in 2018 to 53% compared to the volume of African trade with the rest of the world, and the sectors (manufacturing industries – services – equipped agriculture) were the most prominent sectors that were expected to It benefits from the African Free Trade Agreement, but the repercussions of the crisis prevented it.
Therefore, the Egyptian-African Businessmen Association, represented by its Export Committee, decided to organize an extensive conference in order to shed light on how to promote intra-African trade between African countries and to overcome obstacles and challenges that prevent it, as follows:
Objectives:
• Setting a vision that aims to support and develop intra-African trade and shed light on what is related to the events of a qualitative leap in its rates.
• Identifying opportunities, challenges and threats facing the rates of intra-African exports and imports, and identifying them.
• Reading the current reality in order to reach a good future vision in this regard.
topics:-
1- Logistics and shipping services and the importance of maximizing this role and overcoming the challenges it faces from the international perspective of those services in order to support intra-African trade.
2- Export plans and how to prepare to open more African markets and how to cooperate between the countries of the continent to open global markets to the African product.
3- The role of the Egyptian commercial representation in supporting trade cooperation and improving the rates of the Egyptian-African trade balance in accordance with the provisions of the trade agreements.
4- Ensuring and securing the risks of exports and getting acquainted with the modern services available in that and highlighting the importance of this in increasing trade exchange within the continent.
5- South Africa’s vision of increasing exports within the African continent and how to cooperate in that with North African countries and Egypt.
6- Shedding light on some important export sectors and how to increase the volume of trade exchange for those exports, such as: (Egyptian and African engineering exports – pharmaceutical and medical exports) with shedding light on the challenges they face and reviewing the possibility of restructuring the industrial map to advance those exports.
Speakers:
Dr./ Abdel Aziz Al Sharif – Director of the Africa Department in the Commercial Representation Sector and chairman Former Export Development Authority – Egypt
Mr. Mutu Zulu – President of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry – South Africa
Mr./ Alaa Mostafa – Business Development Manager for the Middle East and Africa Division at the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit emanating from the Islamic Development Bank – Saudi Arabia
Mr./ Mohamed Azzam – Managing Director of the Egyptian Company for Export Guarantee – Egypt
M/.Sherif El-Sayyad – Chairman of the Export Council for Engineering Industries – Egypt
Omar Moamen – CEO of Ibramar Group for Shipping and Transport – Germany / Egypt
Mrs. Yasmina El-Husseini – Head of Strategic Planning Sector – Export Development Bank – Egypt
Dr./ Sherif Soliman – Head of the Export Committee of the Egyptian-African Businessmen Association
Mr. Karim El-Barkouky – Vice-Chairman of the Export Committee of the Egyptian-African Businessmen Association
Chairman of the board of directors of the association
Head of the Conference
Dr. Yousrey Elsharkawi