Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said that the visa regime
operating across Africa was one of the greatest impediments to the
growth of intra-African trade.
This is contained in a statement on Monday in Lagos by African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
According
to the statement, Obasanjo said this at activities marking the 23rd
Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) of Afreximbank in Mahe,
Seychelles.
It said amr Wale Tinubu of Oando Group of Nigeria also gave similar view at the event.
It
said that other speakers who shared the same view were Tony Elumelu of
Heirs Holdings of Nigeria, Dr Paul Fokam of Afriland First Bank, and
Jean-Paul Adam, Minister of Finance, Trade and Blue Economy of
Seychelles.
It said that the speakers unanimously agreed that the
requirement for visas for travel by Africans to other African countries
made it extremely difficult for Africans to travel around the continent
to conduct business.
They noted that only a handful of countries,
including Seychelles, had removed the requirement for visiting Africans
to obtain visas before traveling in.
They stressed the urgency for all African countries to abolish visa requirements for short-term travels.
Obasanjo
was reported as saying that the reasons often adduced for the visa
requirement did not stand scrutiny as such short term travel for
business posed little security risk.
According to Obasanjo, there has also been no evidence that countries
that have implemented visa-free travel have been overrun by any mass
influx of people.
He commended the recent introduction of a common
African passport by the African Union, saying “It will help movement of
people and consequently, intra-African trade”.
The speakers also
stressed the need for African governments to support local entrepreneurs
and to create champions to drive trade across the continent.
Prof.
Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize Winner in Economics and Professor at
Columbia University in the United States, said that intra-regional trade
could help African countries achieve necessary economies of scale.
Stiglitz spoke on: “Can Intra-African trade unlock Africa’s industrial potential.”
“The
development of regional value chains can pave the way for ease of entry
into global value chains and enhance the integration of the region into
the global economy,” Stiglitz said.
“Africa’s priority should be
trade and the implementation of appropriate industrial and trade
promotion policies to take advantage of the window of opportunities
presented by the major changes occurring in the global economic
landscape.
“The changes included the emergence of China as a very
large and rapidly growing market for African exports, and not just for
its natural resources,” he said.