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Ph:DR: Mr. Antonio PEDRO, Acting Executive Secretary of ECA
The Executive Council of the African Union held its 43th Ordinary session this Thursday, July 13, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. An important event on the African Union Commission (AUC) calendar as it provides an opportunity for all to reflect, reset, recalibrate and re-commit to the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063.
The Kenya session therefore provides an opportunity for all leaders at various levels to highlight the Conference on Blue Economy and Climate Action in Africa: Island and Coastal States, held in Moroni, Comoros; the Summit for a New Global Finance Deal, held in Paris, France, as well as the 2023 African Governors Caucus of the World Bank and IMF African, held in Sal, Cape Verde.
Amid the setbacks and challenges wrought by the global multi-crises, Africans have come together to find solutions and innovate, driven by a determination to save lives and livelihoods. “We must harness that same spirit of solidarity, that sense of urgency and resilience to seize the opportunities before us to deliver on the promise of this critical agenda. Africa has already begun to pave the way for a renewed sense of common purpose, as evidenced by the outcomes of the African Union Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, held in November 2022 in Niamey, Niger, which has set a clear path to accelerate Africa’s structural transformation with the potential to contribute increased share of tradable goods in total exports, more productive and decent jobs, value addition, higher volumes of intra-African trade, greater complementarity of products between African economies and the emergence of strong and well-interconnected regional value chains, making nearshoring or Afri-shoring possible and breaking Africa’s dependence on -vis the export of raw materials. The AfCFTA will serve as a catalyst for all of these incremental changes” reviewed the Acting Executive Secretary of ECA, Antonio Pedro.
The African continent has significant resources to propel green and sustainable industrialization and make the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) work. According to Antonio Pedro, “if we exploit the full potential of the Congo Inga III and IV river and build dams, we will produce 70,000 MW of energy; which would benefit about 15 African countries” he analyzes in relation to the many potentials available to the African continent.
“These investments therefore need to be prioritized and African MDBs need to drive the investments to make them a reality. Money from our pension funds and the Diaspora could supplement this effort and SPVs should be created accordingly. If realized, it could be a game-changer for infrastructure development, being the largest single source of untapped renewable energy in the world, with about double the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam in China; it would also enable interconnectivity between African nations and fuel Africa’s industrialization agenda,” continues Pedro.
The continent also has unlimited mineral resources. “These battery minerals, the continent has a major opportunity to be a world leader in the electrification of transport systems and the deployment of solar and wind energy, critical transitions to achieve the world’s zero goals. A key priority for our region, as illustrated by the Africa Mining Vision, is to ensure that our mineral resources contribute to endogenous growth” adds the Acting Executive Secretary of the ECA.
As the world shifts from coal and oil to wind turbines and solar panels, and swaps internal combustion cars for electric vehicles, the demand for minerals such as cobalt, manganese and platinum group minerals will increase to four to five times. “Africa is a key supplier of these minerals, accounting for more than half of the global supply, and stands to gain from this demand. To this end, the development of the special cross-border DRC-Zambia link has everything to gain.”
“The economic zone for the development of a value chain for batteries and electric vehicles could be a game-changer by increasing Africa’s participation in a global market worth $7.7 trillion by 2025 and $46 trillion by 2050”.
As for the global value of the renewable energy market in 2020, it was estimated at $881.7 billion and is expected to reach nearly $2 trillion by 2030. “With the growing demand for clean energy, it is time for the renewable energy market in Africa is emerging as a global market in order to play and attract more global investment. Just 10% of that can easily add $200 billion to Africa’s economy. (Source: CEA)
