ACCRA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- A Ghanaian policy think tank, African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Wednesday urged African countries to put in place measures to industrialize and break into the global market.
ACET, in a statement released here Wednesday ahead of a manufacturing meeting next month in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said the continent had less formal manufacturing than any other region in the world and, therefore, needed to industrialize to make progress in their socioeconomic development.
"Africa currently has less formal manufacturing than any region of the world and in order for it to break into the global market, there are a number of interdependent challenges to overcome," the statement said.
Africa's experience with manufacturing has been mixed and despite bursts of growth in the 60s and mid-80s, the continent currently has less formal manufacturing than any region of the world.
In the early days of independence, governments across the continent sought to promote manufacturing with large state-owned enterprises. However, macroeconomic instability, competition from exports and rising production costs led to a decline in the manufacturing share of GDP in many countries.
Manufacturing is among eight core issues identified as vital to Africa's economic transformation during the African Transformation Forum jointly convened by the government of Rwanda and the ACET in March 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The main outcome of the forum was the launch of the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT), a network designed to bring together key stakeholders around shared themes to speed up economic transformation in Africa.
Manufacturing is also a key element in the African Development Bank's Hi-Fives (Industrialize Africa) and a priority area in Goal II of the African Union's Vision 2063.
The meeting, which comes off on June 5, is to kick-start a continuous conversation for African leaders to shape their countries' industrialization issues in the context of their transformation agenda.
The main objectives of the meeting will be to develop a shared understanding of the manufacturing landscape in Africa, and key challenges and opportunities.
It will also explore practical solutions to key issues by learning from country experiences in six countries-Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique and Ghana.
The meeting will bring together about 40 industry experts and senior officials from key government ministries, departments and agencies from selected African countries, development partners, civil society organizations, academia and the media. Enditem
