AeTrade Group has awarded the African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Akinwumi Adesina, for his leadership in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) process.
AeTrade is a multi-stakeholder group of African Diaspora professionals and businesspeople, with affiliation to the African Union Commission.
The award was organised in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African Business Council, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture.
Ten African heads of state and government, including President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, his Democratic Republic of Congo equivalent, Felix Tshisekedi; President Ahmed Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt; King Mswati III, Ngwenyama of Eswatini; and Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, also received the award.
Others were President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, President Alpha Conde of Guinea; President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda; and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
AfCFTA is expected to speed up the recovery of Africa and enhance its resilience by increasing the level of intra-African trade in goods and services.
‘As Africans, we are proud of the extraordinary effort made by our leaders towards the success of the AfCFTA’, said former Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Boshe at an event held at the Addis Ababa headquarters of the African Union.
Chairman of the AeTrade Group, Mulualem Syoum, thanked the AfDB for its outstanding technical guidance and financial support to the process.
‘Moving forward, we want the private sector to speak with one voice. The AfCFTA has shown the way’, Syoum said.
‘To ensure effective implementation, it is time for the private sector to play its role. The Africa that we want can only be achieved through working together.
‘We are confident that there is no need for Africa to depend on aid. We can spur domestic mobilization of resources and synergies’.
Source: AfDB
Photo source: GovernmentZA
