AFCFTA charges commitee to align export strategy to Africa’s needs

Francis Anatogu, Secretary National Action Committee on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has charged the newly inaugurated Delta Technical Working Committee to align its state export strategy to Africa’s needs.

Anatogu gave the charge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Asaba.

He said that Delta had an existing export strategy, which would be beneficial to the vision of the programme.

He said that the committee would help drive the implementation and sensitise the public on the benefits of AFCFTA.

He said the state’s collaboration with Nexim Bank for export and its investment development initiative would be of benefit to other states if the experiences were shared.

Anatogu said that harmonising regulations and policies for trade and services would also help achieve desired goals.

He said it was imperative to develop products to exportable quality, scale-up production level and develop value chain from commodities to finished product.

“Export is relatively new to us; there are challenges and that is why the AFCFTA initiative was put in place.

“It is about solving problems, we are taking it one after another,  is also a long term programme and we need to run it like a marathon,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Economic Adviser to Gov. Okowa,  Mr Kingsley Emu called for dedication and sensitisation on AFCFTA initiatives and objectives amongst the newly inaugurated committee.

Emu said that AFCFTA was about industrialisation either in services, textiles and value addition, which the state would be committed to.

He said that every state had its own unique advantage and admonished the committee to seize the opportunity to showcase the state’s potential to boost economic growth and job creation.

He, therefore, advised the working committee to ensure that the intervention was taken seriously and to grow the value chain that would bring Delta’s unique advantage and expertise to champion the course.

Emu however advised that meeting specifications and quality should be adhered to in order to ensure that the Nigerian market would not be flooded with cheap items.

Mrs Shimite Bello, a member of the committee assured of the committee’s commitment to delivering on the mandate of AFCFTA.