European Union pledges EUR74-million funding for AfCFTA to support small and medium enterprises, says AAASME secretary general
The European Union (EU) has pledged EUR74-million to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), said the secretary general of the All Africa Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (AAASME), Ebiekure Eradiri. He made the disclosure on Thursday, 19 August at the end of a three-day micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) consultation on the AfCFTA in Dakar, organised by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and AUNIQUEI Communication Company, with financial support from the EU. ”I hope this information can help ignite your commitment towards ensuring that the AfCFTA does not fail,” said Mr Eradiri who sought the continent’s patronage for the SMEs’ goods and services. “Let us build Africa, grow Africa, and buy Africa,” he said. The goal of the hybrid forum was to give an insight into the challenges the AfCFTA poses to the MSMEs, find solutions to them, and encourage them to build networks across the continent. On the issue of improving skills in the sector, Mr Eradiri said the enterprises should scale up their skills and competences to be in tune with present realities.
Source: ECA
East Africa
EAC member states in pilot project for cross-border COMESA digital payments
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is recommending adoption of a digital payment system that supersedes similar systems adopted in the bloc to avoid disputes arising from overlapping systems. Plans are ongoing to introduce the payments platform for informal cross-border trade in the COMESA bloc, with East African Community (EAC) members Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda on board. A public-private partnership dialogue is underway to discuss a draft model policy for the COMESA platform and specifically designed to benefit micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) under the bloc’s Digital Financial Inclusion Project. The aim of the platform will be to further integrate informal traders into formal markets through better access to digital finance systems which are fast becoming the global norm. The envisaged common regional scheme will be geared towards facilitating bottom-of-the-pyramid informal traders (cross-border and domestic) to carry out transparent, affordable and secured digital transactions. Progress has been made in reaching an agreement on rules and guidelines for the platform and the adoption of a COMESA Digital Integrated Common Payment Policy and Framework for MSMEs.
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