The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry opens the first Africa Commerce and Industry Summit in Nairobi on Wednesday. The Chamber is pitching the event as a place where Africa’s trade agreement turns into signed deals.
More than 5,000 delegates from over 50 countries and more than 350 exhibitors are expected at Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum, according to the Chamber. The three-day event marks KNCCI’s 60th anniversary and runs under the theme “Driving Africa’s Next Era of Trade.”
“Agreements do not move goods across borders,” Rutto said in an interview with Sable. “Businesses do, and they can only do it as fast as the systems around them allow.”
Trade between African countries accounts for 15% to 18% of the continent’s total trade, Rutto said. That is about $300 billion of roughly $1.5 trillion. He compared it with about 60% among Asian economies and about 67% within the European Union.
Rutto named trade finance as the most immediate barrier. Most trade worldwide is financed, but Chamber research puts the share for trade between African countries at about 20%, he said, because banks see cross-border deals on the continent as risky. When payments have to be settled through banks outside Africa, businesses pay 10% to 15% more in transaction costs than the global norm, he said.
The Chamber’s top policy priority is a single certifying body across the 54 member states of the African Continental Free Trade Area, Rutto said. Under that system, a certificate of origin issued in Nairobi would be accepted in Johannesburg, Accra or Casablanca without a second inspection at the border.
The summit is designed for business-to-business and business-to-government matchmaking, with private deal rooms, investment forums and 12 sector pavilions. The Chamber invited Nigeria’s High Commission in Nairobi last month to set up a pavilion for Nigerian companies, and the mission said it would bring Nigerian businesses to the event.
“Show up. Bring your product. Find your partner,” Rutto said, speaking to businesses of every size. He said that included a maize farmer in Kitale with an eye on export markets.
What to watch:
Deals signed in the summit’s deal rooms, and any trade commitments announced by government delegations before the event closes Oct. 16. Sable is a media partner of the Africa Commerce and Industry Summit.