Technology can open borders to business and tourism in Africa and create millions of jobs – By Dr. Benoy Berry and Roheen Berry
Intra-African trade accounts for just 12% of the continent’s total trade, presenting a huge opportunity for growth. The latest figures show that if African countries increased the trade between them by only five per cent it would create $34 billion dollars of extra revenue year on year.
The impediments to African growth have been discussed ad nauseam. While the focus has traditionally been on high tariff barriers other major problems are moving up the agenda. The Deputy Director- General of the WTO Valentine Rugwabiza recently said: “It is essential for African countries to increase investment in trade-related infrastructure and other trade facilitation measures to reduce red tape, transaction costs and expedite the movement of goods, services and people across borders.”
Yet, the problems appear insurmountable. According to data
from the African Union, at present it requires an average of 1,600 documents per truck to cross a border within the continent. The movement of people across borders is cripplingly low; fewer residents cross the border between Kinshasa and Brazzaville now than crossed the Berlin Wall in Germany in 1988, the year before it fell.
Today, cross-border travel is difficult, and this hinders the movement of business and tourist travelers, which in turn is holding back intra-African trade. The US based Brookings Institute has described the obstacles to cross-border travel in Africa in shocking terms; extortion, abuse and local law enforcement all hold up or deter business and tourist travelers.
Roheen Berry
