Midrand - “In order for transport corridors and One Stop Border Posts to work efficiently, we need to get the full picture that includes the critical role of leadership as well as political will,” Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, the NEPAD Agency’s CEO stated in his opening remarks at the first MoveAfrica stakeholder meeting.

Dr Mayaki elucidated the critical role for public policy to take a bottom-up approach, pointing out that public policy design needs to be more inclusive in its design in order for governments to be accountable.  Moreover, it is only through a shared vision with open policy space, coupled with institutional capacities that work and strong coordination that will bring about real integration in Africa.

“This is the foundation upon which the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa [PIDA] prioritises continental programmes to help address the infrastructure deficit that severely hampers Africa’s competitiveness in the global market,” Dr Mayaki said.

The MoveAfrica Initiative drives the transportation and logistics pillar of the Continental Business Network (CBN). The NEPAD Agency established the CBN as an African Union Heads of State and Government response to facilitate private sector advice and leadership in essential continent-wide infrastructure projects. As elaborated by Mr Symerre Grey-Johnson, Head of Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade at the NEPAD Agency, MoveAfrica essentially focuses on improving logistics and trade across the continent.

The two-day meeting, held between 2-3 November, saw extensive deliberations on key issues which require intervention in the MoveAfrica Initiative.  The meeting focused on:

• The MoveAfrica launch, including partner and stakeholder commitments, as well as creating awareness on what is being done in the transport and logistics sector and collaboration among various players within the framework of this initiative.
• The role of the NEPAD Agency in scaling up regional integration and trade, and the complementarities between PIDA and its role in two initiatives; the Boosting Intra Africa Trade initiative and the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa initiative.
• The proposed Traffic Light System, a multimodal system which will assess, on the one hand, the performance of the One Stop Border Posts for road transport, while on the other looking at rail, air and sea transport. 

Public partner contributions were received from: Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA); Department for International Development (DfID); Development Bank of Southern Africa; African Development Bank (AfDB); African Import and Export Bank (Afrexim Bank); Transnet; International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and; the Walvis Bay Corridor Group.

Contributions were also received from private partners that included Ford Motor Corporation and Barclays. The meeting participants also reflected on bankable projects, during which Mr Shawn Maphalla, Public Sector Specialist at Barclays, maintained that the private sector values strategic partnerships because of the sharing of risk, as well as deriving long-term stability and impact.

Mr Grey-Johnson reiterated that the role of banks in the MoveAfrica Initiative is twofold: Firstly, they play a major role in financing of infrastructure projects and secondly, they also have a crucial role in the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises along transport corridors.

Partners reaffirmed their commitments based on prior discussions with the MoveAfrica team on how they will support the Traffic Light System.

The meeting concluded by charting the way forward with regards:

• Operationalising of the Traffic Light System which will entail a kick-start of the One Stop Border Posts, the selection of priority countries as well as the opening up of intermodal corridors.
• Resource mobilisation for operationalisation of MoveAfrica, which will include political buy-in from high-level African leadership, using the Traffic Light System as a flagship programme for branding and advocacy.

The MoveAfrica work plan will be rolled out in January 2017.

Source: NEPAD Agency