Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Claver Gatete has said that though African trade has witnessed remarkable growth over the last two decades, its share of global trade remains at a paltry 15 per cent.
He said despite the rising trade volumes from $210 billion in 1996 to $1.2 trillion in 2015, the continent needs to gear up for increased share of world trade.
Speaking at the just-ended Annual General Meeting of Afreximbank, Mr Gatete said to compete for more volumes against Europe’s 67 per cent, developing Asia’s 53 per cent and America’s share of about 37 per cent, Africa must be building value chains to generate more benefits for African economies.
“Regional economic blocks within Africa offer tremendous opportunities to draw on economies of scale to transcend the natural and environmental constraints imposed by geography,” he said.
He added that the creation of regional value chains in Africa along several product lines could ease the integration of African economies into global value chains.
He commended Afreximbank’s support to Rwanda’s economic transformation, noting that the Bank had provided direct financing amounting to $155 million in support of development projects in Rwanda.
More than 100 speakers, including academics, African and global trade development experts, spoke at the four-day AGM in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
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