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SOUTHERN African Development Community (Sadc) member states should increase their industrial capacity to boost intra-regional trade and take advantage of the huge market and common talent within the bloc, Sadc executive secretary, Dr Stergomena Tax, has said.

The call comes at a time when economic experts and policy makers from the region are gathered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this week under the 4th Sadc Industrialisation Week and Exhibition, which ends on Friday. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) is representing the country.

Tanzanian President, Mr John Magufuli, officially opened the high-level gathering on Monday and expressed concern about a situation in which, “Africa produces what it does not consume and consumes what it does not produce”.

“To realise the goals of the Sadc industrialisation strategy and take Sadc to a higher transformational growth and developmental trajectory, we need to significantly increase our industrial capacity by promoting manufacturing,” said Dr Tax, posting on her Twitter handle. “We can no longer afford to remain behind.” 

She stated that in order to boost intra-regional trade and technology transfer, member states should take advantage of the huge market and common talent pool, which requires collective effort in removing investment and trade barriers. 

Monday’s programme saw the historic launch of the Sadc Business Council, which to Dr Tax, highlights the importance and value of the private sector as a critical partner in the Sadc industrialisation agenda. 

“Investment and capital from the private sector will help to develop value chains and infrastructure,” she added. 

In his address Dr Magufuli — who will assume the regional bloc’s chairmanship during next week’s Sadc Summit — said there was an urgent need to do away with hurdles hampering trade among Sadc countries. 

He said trade among African nations was low because of unnecessary barriers and failure to make effective use of core competencies, Tanzanian public media reported. 

Despite the continent’s huge potential and natural resource endowment, available data shows that intra-African trade stands at only about 20 per cent of the continent’s total trade with the rest of the world. This compares poorly with Europe, North America and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, where intra trade is estimated at 60, 40 and 30 percent, respectively.

Dr Magufuli was quoted as saying: “An enabling business environment would create confidence among investors in manufacturing and eventually boost the value of intra-African trade”.