EFA Keynote Speaker at the 14th AU High-Level Private Sector Forum

EFA was a keynote speaker at the AU Private Sector Forum organised by the East Africa Community in Nairobi on 10 July. Ruhi Suttarwala, an award-winning ecommerce practitioner with extensive experience of cross-border digital commerce, represented EFA. She made the following points:-  the attraction for policy makers is that not only will ecommerce grow intra-Africa trade, but also it encompasses many of the fundamental challenges for cross-border trade on the continent; there is a lack of products ‘made in Africa’; the digital divide is of concern with less than 40% of Africans having access to the internet; and the challenges of transport infrastructure – particularly to tertiary towns and rural areas; overall there still remained a lack of payment systems for cross-border, despite the major advances at PAPSS and TCIB; there is no regulatory “level playing field”; customs facilitation needs serious consideration; there is a lack of investment, and, finally, a lack of data on ecommerce. Ruhi’s presentation is available from me ([email protected]).