Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of the National Statistics Institute (INE), João Cardoso, defended this Monday the “emerging need” to invest in digital technologies in order to boost cross-border trade on the African continent.
João Cardoso was speaking to Inforpress, on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the day celebrating African Statistics Day, celebrated annually on 18 November.
This year the anniversary is celebrated under the motto “Modernizing data ecosystems to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFRZ): The Role of Official Statistics and Big Data in the Economic Transformation and Sustainable Development of Africa”.
This year’s theme, he explained, was chosen to raise awareness among decision-makers, technical and financial partners, data producers and users, researchers and the general public, about the importance of official statistics and Big Data to accelerate the implementation of the Agreement.
“Considering the internal challenges that Africa faces and the disruption to the global economy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area is an important opportunity to help African countries to diversify its exports, accelerate growth and attract foreign direct investment”, he stated.
According to this official, the agreement that establishes the African Continental Free Trade Area benefits its member states through the reduction of tariffs, which, in his view, will lead to lower prices for imported goods for consumers and intermediate production factors. for producers.
“This agreement has the potential to lift 30 million people out of the extreme poverty in which a third of the African population currently lives. The role of national statistical systems in Africa and their commitment to modernizing data systems are key to informing policy interventions related to the Continental Free Trade Area,” he added.
He highlighted that transformation and modernization involve all areas of official statistics, including emerging statistics such as digital, agricultural, environmental and climate statistics, the institutional statistical environment, production processes, coordination and collaboration.
As he recalled, in 2020, the Statistical Commission for Africa created an African group on the transformation and modernization of official statistics to provide strategic guidance and coordinate work on the transformation and modernization of national statistical systems in Africa.
“In the context of accelerating the implementation of the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Zone, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an emerging need for digital technologies in cross-border trade”, he asserted, highlighting, on the other hand, that Cabo Verde has achieved “significant gains” by investing in technologies to modernize systems.
João Cardoso also considered that for the agreement that establishes the African Continental Free Trade Area to be inclusive and guarantee shared growth across the continent, women, young people and small and medium-sized companies must be at the center of its implementation, through the use of quality technologies and accurate statistical information.
“African countries are called upon to redouble their efforts to implement the Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area as a tool to create a fundamental and structural transformation of Africa’s economy and place the continent on a path of long-term industrial development , within the guidelines of the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa 2017-2026, adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union. “, he defended.
African Statistics Day is an annual event celebrated on 18 November to raise public awareness of the importance of statistics in all aspects of social and economic life.
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