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AFRICAN ISSUES: A COMMON MARKET Trucks waiting at the Kenyan border. Upgrading road and rail infrastrtucture is essential of Africa’s trade is within the continent exporting to Nigeria is up against an – compared to Asia, where 50% of total average protection rate of 66%, while trade is between countries in the region,” a Nigerian exporting to Morocco is said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a consultant confronted with an average protection rate with the Institute of Strategic Studies of 18%, the UNCTAD report states. (ISS), an Africa-focused think-tank. According to Louw-Vaudran, too many In an article reviewing the UNCTAD African external trade agreements that event, she noted: “African governments take advantage of colonial trade patterns the way we relate to each other, and in this have, over the past number of years, are another potential obstacle to intra- context it is fundamentally important that taken up the challenge and announced African trade. The UNCTAD gathering we talk to each other as Africans about ambitious plans for mega continental praised AU Commission chairperson, Dr some of the hard truths that confront us,” infrastructure projects, development Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, for announcing he said at a conference in Harare. corridors and free trade areas – a a moratorium on external trade “As individual countries, we will not continental integration seen agreements at its January 2013 summit. make it in the world. We will be picked as one of the essential drivers of “This is a step in the right direction and off and become markets for the rest. So African development.” should be welcomed and supported by we can’t look to the rest of the world. But while Africa already has several development partners,” UNCTAD said. We have to look to each other in our free trade areas and customs unions, as But regional integration has been slow, neighbourhood and understand that’s well as a common market in the form of UNCTAD stated in its report. “The African where change will be driven from. As we the East African Community Common integration agenda … is based on the linear learn from Europe we look at ourselves in Market, there are still numerous barriers model of market integration, in which understanding what we should not do.” to intra-African trade. groups of countries move progressively In July last year, the United Nations How can it be that, for example, an from a free trade area to a customs union, Conference on Trade and Development Ethiopian company exporting to Tunisia a common market, an economic union and (UNCTAD) in Ethiopia examined how to faces tariffs of up to 50% on average, eventually a political union, by reducing break the colonial legacy of exporting while a Tunisian exporter to Ethiopia faces barriers to economic and non-economic Africa’s goods to other parts of the world a protection rate of 16%? A Moroccan transactions amongst participating and raise the level of trade between countries. Although some progress has African countries. Only 11% of Africa’s been made … the implementation record “Intra-African trade – which is linked to trade is conducted as a whole has been poor.” greater regional cooperation and stability Instead, governments have been called PHOTOS: SUPPLIED – has become quite a buzz word in Africa within the continent upon to look at what the private sector since it was pointed out that only 11% is producing – and how. “The share of 50 strategicmarketingafrica Third quarter 2014 48-51 African Issues v3.indd 33 2014/06/26 3:46 PM