Regional integration
By Lanre Akinola, Reporter, This is Africa | Published: 31 May, 2010
There is a renewed sense of optimism surrounding regional integration in Africa, as the continent’s governments increasingly turn to the private sector as the main driver of economic growth
Regional economic and political integration was the focus of this year’s African Investment Forum, held in Accra, Ghana, under the banner of Accelerating intra- African trade and investment.
The topic is, of course, not a new one. The desirability of and need for greater integration in Africa has long been understood. Given that past efforts to drive the process on the continent have yielded very few positive results, it might be tempting to dismiss the AIF’s slogan as little more than a development platitude. However, gazing across the floor of the Accra International Conference Centre during the forum, there is a tangible sense of optimism and progress in the air.
What stands out is that the crowd in attendance has a distinctly businesslike feel about it. Everyone from German bankers to British lawyers, Africa’s giant mobile operators and an assortment of domestic and foreign portfolio investors have made the trip to Ghana. They are tirelessly courted by representatives from the various country investment promotion agencies that are present, ushering them from one meeting room to the next, showcasing investment opportunities across the continent.
This buzz of activity is reflective of a renewed confidence around the subject of regional integration in Africa, and represents a critical change that has taken place on the continent in recent years. Long relegated to the margins of policy and at worst considered an obstacle to integration, a burgeoning relationship between government and business has seen engagement with the private sector become stronger than ever.
“There has been a shift of attitude towards the private sector across the continent towards a better appreciation of the fact that the private sector must be the engine for economic growth,” says Obiageli Ezekwisili, vice president for Africa at the World Bank. This change in thinking, she argues, is evident in the reform agendas of many countries across sub-Saharan Africa.
“The private sector does not like environments that are volatile in terms of macroeconomic instability,” she observes, arguing that “what we’ve seen has been better economic management on the continent. In fact, the last decade has shown the continent put in place some better sense of the economic fundamentals that are key for the private sector.”
“I am not saying that the continent has suddenly become the El Dorado of the private sector,” Ms Ezekwisili laughs. “Far from it. But what has happened is that the private sector is better appreciated as the driver of growth.”
This appreciation is evident at the AIF. Along with a sizeable contingent in the crowd, representatives from the private sector were invited to sit side-by-side with the heads of state attending the forum during the opening plenary. Alongside the presidents of Ghana, Namibia and Togo were the likes of Pascal Dozie, the chairman of MTN Nigeria, part of South Africa’s MTN group, and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the chief executive of Nigeria’s Access Bank, was invited as a keynote speaker.
