Addis Ababa, 18 April 2016 (ECA) - The inaugural African Development Week has come and gone and delegates, hopefully, are continuing to pore over the many takeaways from meetings and side events that saw many a discussion on how to spur Africa’s development.
The launch of the Economic Commission for Africa’s 2016 Economic Report for Africa, along with 10 other crucial reports, was one of the main attractions, giving experts and representatives from member countries, academia and partner organizations, among others, a chance to discuss Africa’s structural transformation.
Titled ‘Greening Africa’s Industrialization’, the ECA’s flagship report, whose launch was oversubscribed, highlights structural transformation in Africa’s economies as the biggest priority for the continent with industrialization as the top strategy for achieving that.
George Kararach, an Economic Affairs Officer with the ECA, says the ERA is an important report that everyone who’s concerned with Africa’s growth and development should pay attention to.
“The ERA gives you an annual audit of the current state of things – socio-economic conditions on the continent - that leaders and their governments can stay focused on in the next few years,” he said.
“Our growth has been fantastic compared to others in recent times but at the same time we know that the growth has been what you call jobless growth and so now the idea is to focus on transformation that can actually work for everyone and industrialization is best way to achieve that.”
As a result, he says, African governments need to find takeaways for their respective countries in terms of policy formulation, especially regarding greening the continent’s industrialization.
“Africa needs to industrialize to have an expanded economic base and clearly it has to be green to be sustainable,” said Mr. Kararach.
“We are saying as the ECA, industrialization is important but we need to make sure that we use our resources more efficiently and decarbonizing should be an important element of that process.”
While appreciating that many African countries have been using fossil fuels in their development efforts, Mr. Kararach says in the end it would be cheaper for Africa to go green while taking care of its assets base with governments investing in requisite technologies for smart agriculture for example.
“We do not have to repeat the mistakes that other countries that have recently industrialized have made,” Mr. Kararach said. “Africa is ready for green industrialization and transitioning to a greener industrial path.”
He adds: “We should not think money only as a mechanism for making that transition but the effort and will to change from fossil fuels to a green industrial process plus the massive human resources that can be mobilized in Africa to act and behave differently as we seek to combat industrial emissions and ensure that our people remain healthy.”
Greening Africa’s industrialization, he says, is an opportunity for the continent to achieve the type of structural transformation that yields sustainable and inclusive growth, creating jobs while safeguarding the productivity of natural resource assets.
Asked why member countries should take the ERA seriously, Mr. Kararach said the report gives them a good sense of how things are on the ground, laying out progress made on the continent over the last year and also providing economic projections.
“It is a useful tool for planning that no doubt should and we know is taken seriously by member states,” he said.
“We certainly are singing from the same hymn sheet in as far as green industrialization is concerned as the way forward on the continent to achieve the much-needed inclusive growth and transformation.”
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economique Commission for Africa
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Addis Ababa
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