The 14th African Union High-Level Forum for the Private Sector was held in Nairobi from 10 to 12 July under the theme "Public-Private Engagement for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development while Deepening Regional Trade and Investment for the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area", ahead of the African Union Mid-Year Conference of the eight Chairs of Regional Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms, which is also to be held in Nairobi on July 16th, 2023.
Speaking at the plenary session entitled "Opportunities and Challenges for Digital Trade and its Implications for African Economies", Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, Strategic Adviser to the Deputy Chairperson of the African Commission, considered that digital trade blends the two fields of international trade and the information society.
He highlighted the ongoing negotiating processes including at the global level the Digital Compact at the United Nations, as well as the issues of e-commerce moratorium, and proposals to expand the information technology agreement at the World Trade Organization.
“At the African level, we have both the development of the unified continental position regarding the application of international law to cyberspace and the negotiation of a digital trade protocol in the context of the continental free trade area”, he added.
Aljowaily noted the importance of addressing the issue of digital trade within the framework of the continent's development efforts, referring to the ongoing effort to evaluate the first ten-year plan and the formulation of the next plan to implement the African Agenda 2063, the results of which are to be approved at the next African summit in February 2024.
He indicated that they deal with electronic commerce and other aspects related to communication and information technology as priority areas of work and strategic objectives, including the quality of basic services, regional integration and infrastructure, as well as the establishment of a unified secure digital market.
In this regard, he recalled the efforts of the African Union to put forward a number of continental strategies, including the African framework for data policies and the e-commerce strategy in 2022, and before that the digital transformation strategy in 2020.
The African Business Council, headed by Dr. Amani Asfour and Dr. Islam Sawaleh, representing the economic development, trade and tourism sector of the African Commission, co-organized the forum in Nairobi.
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