{"id":82868,"date":"2024-08-25T12:04:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-25T12:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/08\/25\/mudavadi-africa-to-develop-implement-strategies-to-expand-regional-international-trade\/"},"modified":"2024-08-25T12:04:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-25T12:04:57","slug":"mudavadi-africa-to-develop-implement-strategies-to-expand-regional-international-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/mudavadi-africa-to-develop-implement-strategies-to-expand-regional-international-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Mudavadi: Africa to develop, implement strategies to expand regional, international trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenya has lauded Japan\u2019s support of Africa\u2019s infrastructural development and partnership in bolstering socio-economic activities.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said Japan has maintained close collaboration with Africa geared towards enhancing growth and prosperity in areas like health, education, trade, investment and climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively we need to identify areas of quick wins that do not require huge resources but have huge impact value.\u201d said Mudavadi.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi also the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs noted that trade and investment play a critical role in propelling the continents\u2019 economic growth and help in poverty alleviation calling on African nations to develop and implement strategies that will expand regional and international trade chains.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi who spoke in Tokyo during the Tokyo Investment Conference for Africa Development (TICAD-9) ministerial meeting, said the goal should target to expand production, create employment opportunities and generate income.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestments in requisite skills and capacity as well as a favorable legal and regulatory framework can facilitate effective private sector engagement and utilization of technology thus be a gateway to future economic stability.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi acknowledged the effectiveness of the Africa-Japan cooperation, challenging African nations to work towards more trade and investment collaboration with Japan.<\/p>\n

This he said is part of the evolving global order stating that Africa and Japan have a great opportunity to discuss opportunities that will enable them scale up their mutual trade and investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrade between Africa and Japan is fairly balanced. In 2023, the value of exports from Africa to Japan was estimated at USD 8.28 billion while imports by Africa from Japan were estimated at USD 10.27 billion, leaving a deficit of USD 1.98 billion against Africa.\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

The Prime CS cited Kenya as one of the largest recipients of Japan\u2019s Official Development Assistance (ODA) saying private sector investments to Kenya by Japanese companies have gradually increased over time.<\/p>\n

There are about 120 Japanese companies operating in Kenya.<\/p>\n

\u201cKenya has also positioned itself as a preferred destination in Africa for global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). In 2022, FDI to Kenya was estimated at USD 759 million, accounting for 20 percent of the FDI flows of USD 3.8 billion to the East African Community. This underlines Kenya\u2019s competitiveness as EAC\u2019s financial and investment hub.\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cCollaboration between Japanese companies and Kenyan start-ups can be a powerful catalyst for mutual growth and prosperity. It can strengthen ties between the two nations through joint ventures, technology transfer and shared business initiatives that can be scaled up to the Eastern Africa region and across the African continent.\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi said there is a need to relook at one of the aims of TICAD, which is how to integrate African priorities into the international cooperation agendas of partners and donors.<\/p>\n

African concerns and challenges he said should be part of the global agenda now and moving into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to focus more on creating employment for our burgeoning youthful population, agricultural development, trade, digital transformation and other areas that will enhance growth with equity. This aligns with the United Nations call for leaving no one behind as we all aspire for African solutions to Africa\u2019s problems.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI propose that we consider funding and technology integration into agriculture, to make the sector adaptive to climate change. There is also an urgent need to focus on youth and women\u2019s challenges from a South-South perspective.\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Re-looking at the global financial architecture, he said is an aspect that calls for closer collaboration between the African continent and Japan under the TICAD framework.<\/p>\n

Developing countries in Africa account for 18 per cent of the global population yet the Continent\u2019s contribution to global trade is less than three (3) percent.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi noted that it is crucial to create an enabling start-up ecosystem not only in Kenya but in the African continent, with the goal of creating a robust network of entrepreneurs working together to attract more FDI, foster innovation and address societal challenges.<\/p>\n

He rallied the continent to strive towards a cohesive African start-up ecosystem that is characterized by seamless collaboration across borders, enabling start-ups to scale their ideas from local to regional and even global markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us appreciate that developing countries are embracing the private sector to promote sustainable development. Innovation and technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics, can enable countries to harness the power of digital economy to advance an efficient, inclusive and sustainable future.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mudavadi said Africa and Japan should continue to work together in strengthening the functions of the United Nations as a whole, including reform of the Security Council as part of the matters related to addressing the arising issues in global governance.<\/p>\n

He said Japan and the AU can play a greater role in harmonizing various initiatives on reforms of the multilateral system including bringing together AU\u2019s Ezulwini consensus on international relations and reform of the UN and the G4 (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan) approach on UN reforms.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Mudavadi: Africa to develop, implement strategies to expand regional, international trade<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenya has lauded Japan\u2019s support of Africa\u2019s infrastructural development and partnership in bolstering socio-economic activities. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said Japan has maintained close collaboration with Africa geared towards enhancing growth and prosperity in areas like health, education, trade, investment and climate change. \u201cCollectively we need to identify areas of quick wins that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}