• The largest African commercial platform
• Actions to enable local actors to leverage take advantage of the advantages
Du November 20 to 23, 2023, was held in Bobo-Dioulasso, the 5e edition of the Burkinabè Industry Week (SIB). This edition is placed under the theme: “Burkinabe industries and the challenges of technological innovation in the context of operationalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF)”. For the occasion, panels, an exhibition fair for Burkinabè industrial products and visits are planned over these 4 days.
“Competitiveness of industrial companies in the context of implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area ZLECAF”, this is the theme chosen for the first panel within the framework of the activities of the 5e edition of the SIB. It was moderated by 3 panelists experienced on the issue. At the outset, the first panelist, Mr. Sawadogo Yacouba, economic affairs advisor at the General Directorate of Trade, first gave an overview of the ZLECAF. According to him, “the ZLECAF is the largest free trade zone in Africa with a market of more than 1.3 billion consumers bringing together 55 States, 42 currencies”. It pursues, among other things, the objectives of removing tariff and non-tariff barriers, harmonizing regulations and standards, and improving cross-border investments, thus promoting economic growth, reducing poverty and strengthening the regional integration and cooperation. Still for the panelist, this zone offers numerous commercial opportunities to Member States. It connects 55 states and more than 1.3 billion people, will increase Africa’s income to $450 billion by 2035, and reduce poverty through industrialization. For the particular case of Burkina, integration into the ZLECAF offers possibilities for transformation and industrialization, contributes to economic growth and the strengthening of the structural economy, through the creation of value chains and helps to boost external production in quality and quantity. However, many challenges remain to be taken up by Burkina, in order to better benefit from this platform that is the ZLECAF, suggested Mr. Sawadogo. Among these challenges, there is the improvement of the energy supply, the strengthening of the capacities of the workforce, the improvement of the quality of physical and logistical infrastructures, the formalization of informal businesses, strengthening technical and professional capacities, and taking incentive measures for the benefit of commercial enterprises.
At the end of this first communication, a second communication was given by Mr. Kiema Abel, also economic affairs advisor and head of department at the Export Promotion Agency, APEX. He returned to the role of APEX, and the efforts to be made by Burkina to benefit from the advantages of the ZLECAF. According to this panelist, the goal of APEX is to enable Burkinabè economic actors to better benefit from the advantages of the implementation of the ZLECAF. To do this, it supports numerous national players, in particular, in the promotion of their products on sub-regional and international markets, through fairs and exhibitions. APEX also organizes prospecting missions for the benefit of promising sectors, organizes commercial events, and offers advisory support to exporting companies. Regarding the efforts to be made to better take advantage of the advantages of the ZLECAF, Mr. Kiema affirms that actions are already being taken by the State. This concerns, in particular, the adoption of a national strategy which is structured around 5 major axes. These axes are: popularizing the agreement among stakeholders, strengthening the level of competitiveness of SMEs/SMIs, improving the export offer to better respond to market access offers, improving the capacities of women and young people to better seize the opportunities of the ZLECAF and the strengthening of the institutional and regulatory system for effective management of the ZLECAF.
In addition to these two communications, a third focusing on the opportunities and challenges of the Burkinabè industry was given by Mr. Ouarma Pegnami, also economic affairs advisor. First, he recalled the situation of Burkina’s exports according to 2022 statistics. According to these figures, the most exported products are essentially products from the extraction industry, and unprocessed agricultural products. Regarding the destinations, they are mainly Asia and Europe.
Burkina exports very little to Africa. Like the first speaker, this last panelist also listed the challenges facing Burkinabè industries. According to him, our industries suffer from low competitiveness, low innovation, poorly performing production factors, poorly qualified labor, etc., as a solution to meeting these challenges. “Burkina would benefit from upgrading local industries, strengthening the capacities of stakeholders in terms of standards and quality, knowledge of the African market, and control of value chains,” suggested Mr. Ouarma.
This first panel was punctuated by a series of questions and answers and a summary of the recommendations.
IB (Co-worker)
