Tanzanian president John Magufuli said Tuesday in Dar es Salaam the trade among African countries is not up to the mark due to several unnecessary barriers as well as failure to make effective use of core competencies.
He added the continent has huge potential and natural resource endowment but intra-African trade stands at just 20 percent of the total trade that takes place with the other parts of the world.
Magufuli cited available data that reveals intra trade in North America is 40 percent, in Europe it is 60 percent while in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations the figure is 30 percent.
The president was talking on the occasion of inaugural of the 4th Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Industrialization Week and Exhibition in the financial capital city Dar es Salaam. The Sadc summit is scheduled for next week and he is learned to be chairing it.
He said, “An enabling business environment would create confidence among investors in manufacturing and eventually boost the value of intra-African trade.”
Magufuli cited the strong economies of United States, France, Japan and most of the Asian countries saying these nations had massive investment in industry.
He said industrialization is the way to pave ways toward a strong economy and there is no shortcut to it.
The president further said, “We must face challenges instead of lamenting. That is why Tanzania is doing all in its power to address energy and transport challenges.”
