Vice Minister Emanuela Del Re took part in the video conference opening the 4th edition of the Italy-Africa Business Week, along with the Madagascan Foreign Affairs Minister, Tehindrazanarivelo Djacoba A. S. Oliva. The conference, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was entitled “Rebranding Italy in Africa”.
“More than 20 years ago, Africa presented itself to the world with newly-healed wounds (the end of apartheid in South Africa, peace in Mozambique, and the independence of Namibia and Eritrea), and was a continent full of hope. And now, what we see today is a situation of matured realities, and sometimes surprising dynamism. For more than a decade, Africa has been the continent that has recorded the fastest economic growth, and last year it was the continent with the second highest increase, year on year, in terms of exports,” began the Vice Minister. “This is the time to invest in Africa. Despite uncertainties surrounding the consequence of the pandemic, we must not be afraid of getting involved in Africa but rather, on the contrary, we must do all that is needed to activate the Italy system in the best way possible”.
“The effort put in by the institutions must aim to get in step with businesses, in order to take advantage of this growth, working on 3 mainstays: 1) tools for internationalisation 2) legal certainties in the framework of international agreements 3) growth of local skills,” continued Ms Del Re.
“There have never been so many resources for Africa, partly thanks to the European External Investment Plan – far and away the largest investment programme ever launched for Africa,” she stated. “Italy then took on a leading role in the EU in various preferential trading schemes with African countries: frameworks that bring the certainty of an international agreement and the related mechanism for settling disputes.”
“The final element is to create skills – there is no investment, economic expansion programme, or company growth that does not come about by way of training human capital. Along with our European partners, we forecast strong investment in this regard in the “Africa – Europe Alliance for sustainable investments and jobs”
