BY DELISA THWALA
EZULWINI– Ready for business.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Business Council (CBC) in partnership with COMESA, Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (EDF) RECAMP, the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry has set the tone for implementation of one of the five operational instruments.
These instruments are for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and it will be done through embarking on training of over 300 hundred export-ready Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Business Support Institutions, over the next few months, on market analysis using the African Trade Observatory.
The African Trade Observatory (ATO) dashboard is an integrated digital platform critical for helping businesses identify and compare emerging opportunities across the continent by providing integrated and reliable trade intelligence on trends and market access conditions.
With Africa positioning itself for the start of commercially meaningful trade under the AfCFTA, the ATO is now ever more pertinent.
Speaking on the side-lines of the training, COMESA Business Council’s Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dickson Poloji, noted that market access and the availability of relevant and good quality data is critical for business success.
“We receive a lot of enquiries about market access information; the ATO is therefore an important resource that will drive the private sector, especially SMEs, to more actively and competitively participate in the AfCFTA.
“I implore businesses to take advantage of this unique opportunity to capture value from the regional market, towards not only recovery from the adverse effects of the pandemic, but also for long-term strategic growth.’’ he stated.
Worth noting is that RECAMP is one of the COMESA Regional flagship programmes whose aim is contributing to the deepening of regional economic integration in the region by increasing and strengthening private sector participation in regional and Global Value Chains targeting Agro-processing, Horticulture and Leather and Leather Products value chains. Its primary focus is on addressing matters of competitiveness and improving the business environment.
