By Yunus S Saliu
Creating an enabling environment for women to fully participate in and benefit from the AfCFTA to maximize opportunities, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment (MOTIE) in partnership with the International Trade Centre (ITC) The Gambia, on Wednesday, 21st August held a capacity building workshop for women-led entrepreneurs on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The daylong capacity-building workshop was meant to enhance the capacity of women-led entrepreneurs in The Gambia to understand and leverage the provisions of the AfCFTA Protocols with a focus on the Protocol on Women and Youth in Trade. The workshop provided participants practical knowledge and tools to understand the AfCFTA and its instruments, overcome trade barriers, access new markets, and expand their businesses within the AfCFTA framework.
Speaking at the official opening of the workshop held at Senegambia Beach Hotel, Abdoullahi Jammeh, DeputyPermanent Secretary at the MOTIE thanked GWCC for its collaboration with MOTIE to organize the workshop saying it demonstrated the strong and longstanding relationship that MOTIE has with GWCC in supporting women economic empowerment through trade.
He emphasized that the workshop is part of several workshops and sensitization activities that the Ministry of Trade, Industry Regional Integration and Employment is implementing to raise the awareness of stakeholders on the AfCFTA protocols and the benefits and opportunities created by the AfCFTA.
The objective, he added, is to strengthen the Gambia’s preparedness and we need to develop the required trade capacities to enhance the country’s participation and benefit from the AfCFTA.
“The AfCFTA Agreement is one of the single most ambitious undertakings made by the African Union in advancing the African Regional Integration Project since the launch of the agenda 2063. It aims at boosting intra-African trade to promote economic growth, structural transformation, and industrialization of the African economies, leading to increased productivity, job creation, and higher value-added exports among African countries,” he disclosed.
DPS Jammeh noted that the vision is to boost The Gambia’s trade and investment with the AfCFTA Member States to support economic growth, industrialization, and sustainable development, and “The aim is to increase the Gambia’s exports to Africa beyond ECOWAS so that Africa becomes The Gambia’s leading export growth market, as well as increase The Gambia’s domestic and service exports. The development of women and youth in trade is, therefore, very central in the Gambia’s AfCFTA National Implementation Strategy.”
He reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to work closely with partners and key stakeholders to build and strengthen The Gambia’s institutional, policy, and regulatory frameworks to enhance the business environment as well as support businesses, “through the right policies and programs, to compete and integrate into the African market created by the AfCFTA.”
Maimuna Sanyang, Business Development Officer at the Gambia Women Chamber of Commerce (GWCC) noted the importance of the AfCFTA saying it is very important to the GWCC, thus, they prepared their members to embrace the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA.
According to her, The Gambia is the 22nd country to sign the AfCFTA Agreement, meaning that “The Gambia has the opportunity to trade with other African countries, and it also means that the Gambia should prepare its entrepreneurs to face the international market to create employment, improve the living standards, reduce the high rate of poverty as well as promote the Made in The Gambia products.”
Yusupha Keita representative of ITC also made a remarkable address at the official opening of the workshop; participants include stakeholders from SheTrades, and GWCC among other stakeholders.
