African Development Bank Group Chief Economist Kevin Chika Urama Urges Nordic and Irish Entrepreneurs in to Make Africa Their Business and Investment Destination.

L-R: Prof. Kevin Urama, Chief Economist/Vice President for Economic Governance & Knowledge Management, African Development Bank Group, Ms. Ellen Cathrine Rasmussen, Executive Vice President, Norfund, Mr. Hans Olav Kvalvaag, CEO, Release by Scatec and Prof Dan Banik of the University of Oslo in a panel discussion in Norway.

"With a population of more than 1.3 billion , a youthful population of 600 million, rapid urbanization and rising incomes of the middle class, Africa is the lead-ing emerging market frontier," said Prof. Urama, who was accompanied on the trip by Ms. Mette Knudsen, Executive Director for the Nordic-Indian-Irish Consituency at the African Development Bank.

Speaking in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a meeting with businesspeople on 28 September, Urama said that the African Continental Free Trade Area, the largest regional bloc in the world in terms of the number of countries, is estimated at $3.5 trillion in market size. "But this increase is insufficient in both value and relative terms. Between 2018 and 2022, total exports to Africa from Denmark represented on average only 0.3% of Africa's total global imports," he said."This needs to change given the huge potential and opportunities that African markets offer to Danish businesses for trade and investment and the strong partnership between Denmark and African countries," he said.

"Much needs to be done to improve trade and investment between Norway and Africa. Between 2018 and 2022, total exports to Africa from Norway represented on average only 0.4% of Africa's total imports," he clarified. There are also untapped opportunities in the development of Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones. The African Development Bank and its partners are investing over USD 1.5 billion in the development of these zones, with 25 zones under development in 11 countries, he added.).

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