African countries are set to benefit from the ongoing US-China trade war as it is bringing new opportunities for the continent where they could step up their product and services export capabilities.
Francois Fouche, who is the advisor at Trade Research Advisory, was addressing dignitaries where there were several ambassadors and trade mission officials present at the launch of the 2020 edition of Africa Trade Week in Johannesburg recently.
“South Africa and the SADC region need to export,” Fouche said. “In South Africa alone, while in Q219 there was reasonable quarter on quarter growth, South Africa has not had a very impressive growth run prior to that. We’re a very small and open economy, and we must participate more in the global market.”
Highlighting that the world’s biggest importers and exporters were also the world’s leading economies, he mentioned that global trade reinforced economic growth. At present, there are massive opportunities available for African exporters to go into various international markets such as China and the US. There are huge opportunities for company formation in Africa and also business or company formation in South Africa.
In order to seek and convert these opportunities, all the nations had to understand the transforming nature of globalisation, he said. “In future, globalisation will be more about what we do than things we make. So, services trade is likely to pick up faster than products trade. Global services trade, at around US$5 Trillion, is still three times smaller than products trade, which is very mature at around US$15.7 Trillion,” he said.
Fouche quoted the ITC survey for the Fifth Global Review of Aid for Trade (2015), which found that the biggest component of trade costs in which all the trade support organizations would most value improvements was accessibility of information regarding export opportunities. “People want intelligence to help grow their exports,” he said.
Lynn Chamier, the Event Director of Africa Trade Week said that networking capability and knowledge sharing are imperative for creating mutually-beneficial trade ties in Africa, and Africa Trade Week is planned to facilitate many such opportunities to do so. Africa Trade Week is one of the major engagement platforms meant for more than 10,000 global industry professionals from 67 countries and it aids broker deals and encourages trade overseas and across the continent.
Africa Trade Week combines three leading exhibitions and conferences, namely, The Hotel & Hospitality Show, Africa’s Big 7 and SAITEX, focusing pan-African trade and business opportunities, products, equipment, services, supplies, innovations, and new technology and solutions.
SAITEX, which has been acting as the major annual product sourcing opportunity for whole of the continent’s retail/trade industry for more than 25 years, highlights a key exhibition and also a two-day Trade Development Forum which offers a platform for strategic intra-Africa trade discussions for various diplomats, government officials, entrepreneurs and top business leaders from around the globe.
Africa’s Big 7 is the exclusive food and beverage trade show held in Africa which invites thousands of stakeholders, buyers and suppliers under one roof and also features a two-day FOODNEXT.AFRICA conference. The Hotel & Hospitality Show in Africa is their leading event for the hospitality industry which features the Hospitality Leadership Forum.
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