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I am pleased to address this year’s Africa Dialogue Series, under the theme "Market and Scale: Unlocking Industrialization through Intra-African Trade."

I applaud that you have chosen this theme in line with our African Union theme of the year "Accelerating the implementation of the AfCFTA."

I commend my sister Ms. Cristina Duarte, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, and Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, for co-organizing the ADS in partnership with relevant UN and AU agencies. I am very pleased with this partnership for Africa!

Africa’s outlook on trade and industrial development is facing challenges of the current global crises starting with COVID 19, climate change and the Ukraine-Russia conflict that has exacerbated a food and energy crisis. Of particular concern is the climate change crisis in which Africa is bearing the blunt though its contribution to global warming is minimal. Africa is also traversing challenging moments of insecurity threatening the peace, prosperity, trade and investments in some of our Member States and regions.

It is therefore on this ground that implementation of the AfCFTA and Agenda 2063 project holds the promise for Africa in order to ameliorate these challenges.

This brings me to today’s topic. One of the bright spots among all these challenges is the progress we have made together in operationalizing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Just a few years ago, such an achievement was an aspiration at best.

The agreement to establish the AfCFTA was signed in 2018 by 44 countries. The number of signatories increased to 54 within a year. The Agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019 and from 1 January 2021 onwards, countries are able to trade under the AfCFTA.

This is a monumental achievement brought about at a remarkable pace thanks to African leadership and political will.

The AfCFTA covers 55 countries, 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion. As such, it is the largest free trade area since the entry into force of the World Trade Organization not only by the number of participants, but also by geographical area.

Guided by this vision we are now moving into the next complex phases of AfCFTA implementation regarding issues like competition and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policies, digital trade, and the role of women and youth in trade.

Africa’s population is predominantly youth and women. It is the youngest continent in the world with a median age below 20 and 65% of the population under 25.

Africa’s dynamic youth and women are the drivers of transformational change in Africa built from the ground up. Women alone account for an estimated 70% of cross-border traders in Africa, which supports the income of around 43% of the continent’s population.

We must do justice to the continent’s women and youth and pave their way to prosperity and peace thanks to strengthened efforts in AfCFTA implementation.

We must create a conducive business environment that promotes inclusion, economic development, and social stability for the continent.

To achieve this goal, the continent needs to reverse the past trends of deindustrializing demonstrated by the manufacturing value addition, which stands at a mere 2%.

The continuous discovery of our vast minerals’ wealth should effectively contribute as a base for our industrialization instead of the traditional dependency on raw exports, where fuels, ores, and metals have accounted for no less than 60 percent of Africa’s exports in any year since at least 1995, simply volatile, exacerbating budgetary planning.

We are now keen on maximizing value addition that can create jobs, accommodating the continent’s 120 million African youth that are expected to enter the labor force over the next decade, towards a stable base for Africa’s development.

Therefore, in this regard, the implementation of the AfCFTA must deliberately embrace industrialization by focusing on increasing productive capacities. Even light manufacturing will be valuable as it will not only produce the much-needed goods that we are currently sourcing elsewhere but also will create millions of much-needed jobs.

Africa has to be a market for itself. The composition of manufactured goods in Intra-African trade must grow higher and higher from 40% it is at today.

The 17th Extra-ordinary Session of the AU Heads of State and Government on "Industrialization and Economic Diversification" convened last year in Niamey, effectively summed the relationship between our newly created market and industrialization. It called for investments in skills, infrastructure and adequate financing for industrialization.

It is only when Africa consistently treads this path shall we unlock our industrialization through intra-African trade. I count on this year’s Africa Dialogue Series for contributing to this goal, while looking forward to reading the outcome of your deliberations. Best of luck for that!