The Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said Africa could no longer rely completely on importation of vaccines and pharmaceuticals given the lessons drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic.
She expressed concern that most of the continent’s population remained unvaccinated, with only less than five per cent of Africans fully vaccinated compared to over 60 per cent in developed countries.
The WTO DG, who had predicated the economic recovery in developing countries on the availability and access to COVID-19 vaccines, pointed out that the organisation had spent a great deal of time working with manufacturers to invest in emerging and developing countries including Africa.
Okonjo-Iweala spoke virtually at the 49th Annual General Meeting and 50th anniversary of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Abuja.
She said death dynamics on the continent were worsening with death ratios climbing from an average of 33.4 per cent in 2015 to over 50 per cent in 2021.
Okonjo-Iweala who spoke on the “Role of Trade in the Post- Pandemic Recovery in Africa,” stressed that unequal vaccine access had limited economic recovery especially in developing countries.
She said, “Unequal vaccine access and poor physical capacity has led to a K-shaped global economic recovery with advanced and some emerging economies surging ahead because they have access to vaccines and have very strong physical capacity which they use to revive their economy with their accommodative monetary policy.”
She added: “But those at the downward end of the k-shape which include Latin America, Middle East and Sub-saharan Africa lag behind because they don’t have as much access to vaccines and the physical stimulus especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
She said intra-regional trade as a percentage of total trade was only 15 per cent in Africa compared to 60 per cent in Asia and 67 per cent in Europe -implying that Africans trade much less with themselves unlike other regions.
She said the pandemic had exposed how dependent Africa is, reiterating the need for the continent to make use of the The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to build pharmaceutical industries and also produce vaccines.
The WTO DG said the prospects of a unified market of 1.3 billion people offered enormous opportunities for Nigerian businesses that service a whole market of 211 million people.
According to her, “The large continental market which makes investments more attractive in Nigeria can create more wealth and more jobs.
“We need to trade more with each other because we can trade more with each other and increase that percentage, we can create more wealth and create more jobs”.
She said increased trade remained critical in the recovery of the Nigerian and African economy onto a sustainable upward path.
Okonjo-Iweala noted: “We need to reverse our presence on the downward part of this k-shaped recovery and use the recovery from the crisis to increase Africa’s share of global trade.
“Trade is essential to produce and distribute the COViD-19 vaccines we need, these vaccines rely on inputs from multiple countries.
“The vaccines must get into people’s hands in every country of the world, that is why the WTO has been working hard with vaccine manufacturers and other stakeholders to help them identify supply chains. So that some countries can access the vaccine sooner.”
Earlier, President, MAN, Mansur Ahmed said industrialisation and trade were key to economic recovery and sustainability adding that this enable Nigeria compete across various frontiers.
