Angola IPA chair suggests establishing production units near borders to facilitate intra-African trade

CAIRO - 12 June 2021: Chairman of Angola Agency for Private Investment and Promotion of Exports (AIPEX) Antonio Henriques da Silva suggested Saturday in IPAs Africa Forum 1 establishing production facilities near the borders introducing the necessary infrastructure such as electricity in order to facilitate intra-African trade.

 

Angola is located in the Atlantic Ocean giving it a competitive advantage, the AIPEX chairman noted.

 

“We need to address the mobility of companies and people... Road integration will benefit landlocked countries, which will be able to leverage the [strategic] locations of other African states like Angola’s,” da Silva said.

 

Talking about Angola’s experience with enhancing the business ecosystem, the AIPEX chairman said his country had to ensure the presence of a competitive environment. “We had to undertake structural reforms, which have proven fruitful over the past 3-4 years,” da Silva said.

 

Yet, “we need to fast-track. That can be partially accomplished by accelerating the movement of people and goods....We invested more in ports,” the Angola AIPEX chairman added.

 

Africa IPAs Forum 1 kicked off in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh having as slogan “Growth for Integration.” The forum is the first of its kind and is taking place on June 11-14 with the participation of ministers and chairpersons of investment promotion authorities at 34 African countries.