Financing and investment in strategic and growth areas is expected to stimulate regional integration and development between Africa and the Caribbean. According to experts, Africa currently accounts for 17% of the world’s population but only 6% of the world’s energy supply. TheInternational trade center( ITC )report on expanding trade between Africa and the Caribbean also highlights the need for partnerships to address these global economic crises in order to boost annual exports from Africa to the Caribbean by up to 54% by 2026.
By promoting regional development and integration, Africa’s merchandise exports to the Caribbean are expected to increase by 171 million US dollars by 2026, a 54% increase over 2020 levels. African leaders urge increased financing and investment as well as the development of policies to strengthen the energy sector, combat climate change and stimulate private sector development.
“640 million Africans have no access to the grid and we need to connect them and then after that talk of how to do it , so we would be calling on the developed countries to try and help us breach that funding required for us to lift all that. If we have funding that has been pledged in most of the platforms or conferences that have been in the last COP28, There is hundreds of billions that is meant to go to this climate change. We need much of this funding.”
Akol E. Ayii, President of Trinity Energy Group – South Sudan
By investing in strategic and growth areas, the Caribbean is expected to increase its merchandise exports to Africa by 80 million US dollars, or 29%. The Africa continental free trade (AfCFTA) also embodies a strong commitment to a unified and prosperous Africa and the CARICOM states. By tackling infrastructural and financial barriers, Africa and the Caribbean stand to create a strong economic environment that will benefit all citizens according to experts.
« I believe that bringing our brothers to this side of the world can provide the necessary capital that we really need and we could also create a market where our products that are currently destined for other Western countries would be marketed by our own African compatriots who have come to this part of the world.”
Akol E. Ayii, President of Trinity Energy Group – South Sudan
The ITC-Afreximbank partnership, through initiatives such as the Business Council and training programmes on how to export with AfCFTA, represents an important step towards achieving a status where partnerships can serve as a bridge among African states, and between the African continent and its diasporic communities in Caribbean countries.
