Invest in human & financial capital to drive sustainable industrialization, SADC urged

Addis Ababa, August 18, 2023 (FBC) – Africa should boost investment in human and financial capital to accelerate its sustainable industrialization and economic growth, Antonio Pedro, acting Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa said at the 43rd Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government in Luanda, Angola.

The 43rd Session which opened this week had the theme, Human and Financial Capital: The Key Drivers for Sustainable Industrialisation in the SADC Region.

Noting that human and financial capital were key drivers for sustainable industrialization, Mr. Pedro said much of Africa was off track to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) despite the region having endowments to rescue the SDGs and achieve Agenda 2063.

African countries should align their education systems with market and societal needs, Mr. Pedro urged. Equally, he said governments must invest in science, technology, and innovation to move away from the resource extractivism model that characterizes most of Africa’s mineral-rich countries and escalate value chains to avoid the middle-income trap.

The impact of the global shocks of conflict, climate, food, and energy crises as well as heightened tensions call for a strong African position within the global geopolitical economy, he said.

Calling for African countries to “break this vicious cycle” of commodity dependence, Mr. Pedro highlighted trade diversification as the solution to reducing the region’s vulnerability to global market turbulence and geopolitics.

The SADC region needs a fit-for-purpose industrialisation and economic diversification pathway to rescue the SDGs and achieve Agenda 2063, the acting Executive Secretary emphasized.

The ECA Acting ES challenged African leaders to establish an ecosystem for transformational change and leadership that brings together the government, the private sector, and other stakeholders in quality dialogues and co-creation of home-grown solutions.

In addition, Mr. Pedro said African countries must move beyond aid and broaden finance to enhance productive capabilities by mobilizing more domestic resources through pension funds which are attracted to bankable projects.

“Greening industrialisation is possible in SADC and it would be a very smart course of action because soon it will be increasingly difficult for us to export our value-added goods to jurisdictions that are introducing carbon borders,” said Mr. Pedro.