The 2022 Commonwealth Business Forum opened in Kigali, Rwanda, with a resounding call for action to do more to spur intra-Commonwealth trade, protect the environment and invest in young people for an equitable common future.
During a panel discussion at the opening plenary, the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, said the time had come for Commonwealth countries to harmonise and translate common visions into action to build back a shared future, prioritising the youth.
“We seem to understand what we need to do. We should just do it. We need to keep making sure that when you talk about the Commonwealth, you mean the commonwealth; not just being common to a few, so everyone in the Commonwealth family feels they are part of it. So even those at the lower level feel not left behind,” he said.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, taking his turn, said the future of the Commonwealth must be well-shared across its 54-nation family, must be youth-driven, and climate-resilient.
“We have to prioritise young people in all our financing. We must create youth-based wealth. What the youth need is access to skills, education, and finance,” he pointed out.
He spoke of the African Development Bank’s ‘Job for Youth’ scheme and its ‘Coding for Employment’ programme, explaining that these programmes greatly contributed to youth becoming leaders.
Commending the Rwandan President for showing exemplary leadership in Africa, Dr. Adesina said, “a common future needs good leadership to make the people believe they can build their life where they are. I don’t believe the future of the youth in Africa lies in Europe. I don’t believe it lies in Latin America, Asia, or anywhere else. It lies in Africa growing well, able to create quality decent, competitive jobs for its young people.”
Trade
According to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, intra-Commonwealth trade exports had rebounded from $700billion in 2019 to an estimated $760billion in 2021, the highest ever recorded in value terms.
She projected that intra-Commonwealth exports would grow steadily over the next five years, surpassing the $1 trillion mark by 2026.
“We hope to put trade back on track following the economic setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the spillover effect of the Ukraine conflict,” Scotland reassured.
Ms Scotland said there was substantial progress in boosting intra-commonwealth trade and investment towards the goal of $2 trillion in intra-commonwealth trade by 2030.
The Managing Director and Executive Vice President at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Makhtar Diop said Commonwealth member countries must have ambition and vision and also go on to implement them.
He said the IFC had initiated products to support trade finance in Africa and help de-risk investment.
“Trade financing will be essential to building a resilient ecosystem of value chains in Africa. We have a lot of business people who don’t know the continent as we know it. They would like to put their money into the economies but ask us to derisk it, so we’d use our resources to de-risk it to attract more investment,” he posited.
Mr Diop expressed confidence in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as one of the ways to boost exports from Africa.
This year’s event is dubbed “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming.”
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