Africa needs free trade nod

EUROPEAN UNION: COMMISSION HEAD CALLS FOR AGREEMENT, NEW INVESTMENT ALLIANCE

Wants more equal partnership and investment rather than aid to stem migrants.

Strasbourg

The European Union (EU) should offer a free trade agreement to the whole of the African continent and a new investment alliance, European Commission President JeanClaude Juncker said in a keynote speech yesterday.

Among various proposals for EU action to bolster prosperity in the world’s poorest continent and Europe’s close neighbour, the commission chief called for a more equal partnership and investment rather than aid.

Europeans are looking for ways to stem an economic divide driving Africans to migrate northward.

Juncker said he had talked with African leaders and was proposing an alliance to boost sustainable investment, which he said could create 10 million jobs in Africa in the next five years.

While it was clear that a free trade pact would be some way off, the EU would look to take advantage of African efforts to forge a free trade area within the continent to work towards a comprehensive continent-to-continent trade agreement. Trade between Africa and Europe, said Juncker, was not insignificant – 36% of Africa’s trade is with the European Union, compared to 16% with China and 6% with the US.

“But this is not enough,” Juncker told the European parliament.

“I believe we should develop the numerous European-African trade agreements into a continent-to-continent free trade agreement, as an economic partnership between equals.”

The European Union already has a series of deals with individual

36% of Africa’s trade is with the EU