Tribalist

DAY 3 - Made in Africa Day Keynote

Posted by Janice Scheckter on 10 August 2017 5:50 AM SAST

Dr Eve Gadzikwa, President of the Regional Standardization Organization Repositioning the SADC Region via Global Value Chains

Since 2015, the year of her appointment to this standardization body, Dr Gadikwa noted that a lot of hard work had taken place. 

1. Focus on developing industrial capacity

* industrial dev important in that contributes to agri, trade, transport etc.

* industrialisation is the key to economic dev

* synonymous with growth

* those that industrialised (like South Africa) more quickly have shown improvement of the life of citizens

* will need to focus on competitiveness

* on ease of doing business

* price alone with not cut it

* through history has been a structural driver of reduction of poverty

* are you aware of industrial parks in many developed countries

* Ethiopia has developed a number of development zones and 6 are showing impact. 

* many important players including education

* the crucial role of government in creating macro economic engagement cannot be overlooked 

* important for generating employment, promoting education and research and more

2. Partnering with private sector

* in current dynamic environment the need for a coordinated effort more important than ever before

* PPPs are crucial for driving collective action

* these must be driven by individual countries 

* collective responsibility underlines impetus

* many advantages to partnering with private sector - fills important gaps in skills and manufacture capacity

* private sector has the capacity to contribute on many levels

3. Repositioning the sector into value chains

* SADC does not exist in isolation

* the SADC regional economic countries capture only a small share of the value of the products

* many of the higher value activities are captured in larger economies

* SADC needs to be the value owner

* e.g. In Zim the gold leaf tobacco is not being produced into the finished product. 

* that is the kind of value production that we need in Africa. 

* investment in infrastructure upgrades must be a priority for SADC

* Mining and Agro are the low hanging fruits for many of the SADC members

* it's no longer feasible for just one country alone to produce finished product

* agri is the backbone of regional economies

* need for a common policy framework

We are coming to the realisation that the world is shrinking and competition is increasing. Integration into global value chains is a must. It is not business as usual - the sleeping giant SADC must move now.