Lusaka, Zambia: 21 October -The current wave of industrialization taking place across the African continent will need a different approach from that of the last century. The focus should be on people not GDP.
Commenting on the draft COMESA industrialization policy during a peer review meeting held in Lusaka, ECA Southern Africa Regional Office Director, Said Adejumobi said industrialization was not new to the continent and Africa must decide what kind of industrialization it wants. “This is not the first time Africa is industrializing; we did so in the early 70s. What kind of industrialization does Africa want? Ultimately, the objective of an industrial policy should be about creating employment and uplifting the human standards of living. Our focus should be on people not GDP.” He said.
Adejumobi wondered whether the current global context was conducive to Africa’s industrialization. “Will Africa conform or break global rules to industrialize? Current industrialization should encompass information technology, globalization, the environment and ultimately about creating and delivering jobs” he said.
COMESA is finalizing an industrialization policy to help its member States in their quest to industrialize. COMESA Senior Trade Officer – Trade, Customs and Monetary Affairs, Tasara Muzorori said the industrial policy is based on two pillars: national and regional and uses two industrialization models for each member state to choose in line with their endowments of resources: natural or human and three industrialization paths (agricultural development-led, fabricated metal driven, and differentiated) to choose in conformity with their industrialization stages.
“The national pillar aims at enhancing regional competitiveness by building production capacity, entrepreneurship, production linkages and industrial clusters in public and private partnership said Muzorori. He said the regional pillar is aimed at “enabling national industrialization policies to be cooperated with monetary, fiscal and other structural policies at the regional level for maximization of its potential gains from a wider market with a combined population of 450 million and an aggregated GDP of US$ 590 billion.”
Meanwhile, the Southern Africa Development Community - SADC has requested ECA’s support in developing a roadmap and strategy document on industrialization as directed by the Heads of States at the last Heads of States Summit held in Zimbabwe in August 2014. The SADC Heads of State adopted the ‘SADC Industrial Development Framework’ and directed that SADC develops a roadmap and strategy document on how to implement the industrial framework.
ECA and AU’s 2014 and 2013 Economic Reports on Africa recommended building and implementation of dynamic industrial policy frameworks organically - not based on donor blueprints. The 2014 report focused on how to build innovative, effective, and flexible industrial policy organizations and mechanisms to enhance industrialization and structural transformation in Africa. The former looked at making the best of Africa’s commodities.
Both reports recommended the creation of appropriate inclusive and transparent institutional industrial policy mechanisms, appropriately directed local content policy and the adoption of strategic interventions to include indigenous firms in supply chains among others.
COMESA’s Industrial Policy is in its final stages and will be launched later in the year. ECA has pledged its support in the development and implementation of the policy.