Nigeria has adopted a declaration titled ‘The Abuja statement’ along with the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Friends of Investment Facilitation for Development (FIFD) and participants at the recent trade and investment facilitation partnership forum from 2-3 November 2017
The Abuja statement focuses on deepening Africa’s integration in the global economy through trade and investment facilitation for development. It has been unanimously adopted after two days of intensive deliberations between policy makers and the business community from across the world.
The statement reaffirmed that trade and investments are inseparable and remain indispensable for economic growth, modernisation and development of Africa.
It further emphasised the need to scale up investments in infrastructure of the ports, transport corridors and telecommunications networks, aiming to enable Africa to participate and benefit from today’s digital global economy.
The Abuja statement also supported the ongoing continental free trade area (CFTA) negotiations in Africa.
The statement said, “One of the central objectives of the high level forum was to examine how the WTO could contribute to facilitating the required investment, as well as trade by developing multilateral approaches to improving transparent, cutting red tape, streamlining procedures and strengthening international cooperation with the aim of expanding sustainable pro-development investment.”
“Participants underscored the importance of enabling developing and least developing countries to increase their participation in global investment flows, including by mobilising resources needed to address their technical and capacity constraints,” it further noted.
In addition, the statement further emphasised that policies, institutions and best practices are required for expanding the investment in the domestic economies of African countries.
The High Level Forum was co-hosted by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), ECOWAS in partnership with FIFD. Members of FIFD coalition are Nigeria, Argentina, China, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, the European Union and Qatar.
