Promoting One African Market : Stakeholders Seek Workable Strategies

Business people have shared ideas and made proposals for the effective takeoff of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The proposals, which seek to lay the groundwork for projects with a high potential for industrial, economic and social development of the African continent, were made during the third annual forum by Pro Meet Up and Learn at the Best Western Plus Hotel in Douala from October 12-14, 2022. 
The Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille Bassilekin III, was in Douala to close the event. He expressed gratitude to the panelists and initiator of the forum for their effort to garner constructive ideas for the development of Africa.
Carole Mbessa Elongo, Promoter of Pro Meet Up and Learn, said in the event’s news magazine that, Africa would benefit from opening up more to itself by promoting free trade, the free movement of people and goods. She suggests that the development policies of African countries can only be sustainable if they are based on local realities, on different approaches and concerns specific to each context. It should implement proactive and pragmatic policies in terms of education and training. In order to consolidate its progress over the long term, it should equip itself with populations equipped with new paradigms to face its challenges, which she says include unexploited potentials, domination from other countries, and ambitions.
Intra-African trade is currently low at 14.4% of total African exports. It is 61% made up of processed and semi-processed products, particularly in agric...