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Fifi, first thanks very much for having me. It is always a pleasure to be on your show. The conference today has been a mixed bag, to be frank – a mixed bag in the sense that there have been a lot of panels and discussions around how we ought to be doing things, and that is the positive side of things. But of course with all of these things we can talk about plans and instruments, but whether we have the capacity to execute on these things is always the question.
Well, I think there are two parts to your question, so let me address each of the parts. The first is Africa continues to be a serial importer of products, goods and services. And that’s precisely why we need to increase intra-Africa trade. Now, despite the FTA [free trade area] coming into effect almost three years ago, we haven’t shifted the needle, regrettably. So our input dependence as a continent continues and there’s only one way to break that.
You’re quite right, Fifi. It is quite like hunting as a pack. The political will is there, but political will doesn’t always translate into execution. What we actually need is a digitalised system on the continent. Again, I’m going to refer to my comfort zone, which is pharmaceuticals.
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