{"id":4217,"date":"2021-11-10T09:56:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T09:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth"},"modified":"2021-11-10T10:38:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T10:38:19","slug":"minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth","title":{"rendered":"Minister Mbabazi implores EAC leaders to empower the youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Leaders in the East African Community (EAC) have a responsibility to create and offer a conducive environment for youth to tap opportunities that come with the African Continental Free Trade Area.<\/p>\n

The Minister of Youth and Culture, Rosemary Mbabazi, made the call on Tuesday, November 9, during the ongoing YouLead summit 2021 in Arusha, Tanzania.<\/p>\n

She was delivering a keynote address on behalf of President Paul Kagame whom she represented at the high-level meeting. The summit is the region\u2019s largest youth gathering in the bloc.<\/p>\n

This year’s edition is set to highligh the importance of collaborative efforts to boost investment and trade for Africa\u2019s burgeoning youth population.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very critical to highlight that, Africa being a youthful continent, young people are instrumental when it comes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals for each and every country,\u201d Mbabazi said, in the presence of policymakers, development partners, private sector as well as academia.<\/p>\n

They represent precious assets that no country can afford to ignore because they bring energy, talent and creativity to the world that enables countries to innovate, grow and prosper, she added.<\/p>\n

The Minister\u2019s remarks were aligned with the theme of the day \u201cRole of Youth in driving African Economic Integration Agenda under AfCFTA\u201d. Almost 60 percent of Africa\u2019s population is under the age of 25, and 19 of the world\u2019s 20 youngest countries are in Africa.<\/p>\n

But, she decried, \u201cDespite making up a significant percentage of the continent\u2019s population, young people\u2019s participation in cross-border trade and trade governance is still very limited in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Link to sustainable development<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s youthful population can be harnessed to achieve Africa\u2019s sustainable development. For instance, she said, the International Trade Centre (ITC) report of 2015, \u2018youth are 1.6 times more likely to start a business than those above 35 years old.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, young entrepreneurs in Africa continue to face a wide range of bottlenecks that constrain their capacity to participate and benefit in international trade, Mbabazi added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we continue to nurture the young people, we must acknowledge that they need key technical skills to become more competitive in the process of realizing the African Continental Free Trade Area and also, they encounter various challenges related to financing and ease of movement.”<\/p>\n

She recommended that African governments, development partners must continue to mentor the youth, create a conducive environment, policies and programs that enable them to position them to drive AfCFTA and African development in general.<\/p>\n

Pandemic in context<\/b><\/p>\n

In the current tragic situation of Covid-19 pandemic that has affected almost all sectors of the African continent and the the entire World, many youth economic and social businesses have also been slowed down, she pointed out.<\/p>\n

This, Mbabazi said, means youth must be challenged with innovative solutions that are resilient and able to cope with COVID19 short- and long-term impact.<\/p>\n

She also described the AfCFTA as one of the greatest achievements of 21st century Africa during the hybrid summit that convened over 10000 participants from across Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntra Africa trade is one excellent way to bring our continent closer and to significantly create more wealth within and more opportunities for our youth,\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cHowever, we must also realize that this agreement will only be fully leveraged when African young entrepreneurs take its full advantage.\u201d The trade bloc opens a new, bigger window for the creative, innovative and hardworking Africa entrepreneurs to grow and scale.<\/p>\n

But entrepreneurs will need various skills including adaptability, scalability, and responsiveness to tap into its potential. The Minister called on the young folks to leverage on such a huge opportunity through existing structures such as Private Sector Federations.<\/p>\n

She stressed that youth need to be at the forefront and seize opportunities provided by the elimination and reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers amongst African Countries that agreed to be members of the bloc, as part of the efforts to deepen the economic integration and prosperity as a concrete manifestation of the pan-African drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime is now for the youth to start seeing green pastures in Africa and leverage innovation and creativity to build the Africa we want.\u201d Mbabazi, who represented President Paul Kagame, pledged Rwanda\u2019s continued support to young entrepreneurs in the region and across the borders.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Leaders in the East African Community (EAC) have a responsibility to create and offer a conducive environment for youth to tap opportunities that come with the African Continental Free Trade Area. The Minister of Youth and Culture, Rosemary Mbabazi, made the call on Tuesday, November 9, during the ongoing YouLead summit 2021 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,761,28],"tags":[760,763,2604,758,988],"class_list":["post-4217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-minister-mbabazi","tag-rwanda","tag-youth"],"yoast_head":"\nMinister Mbabazi implores EAC leaders to empower the youth - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Leaders in the East African Community (EAC) have a responsibility to create and offer a conducive environment for youth ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Minister Mbabazi implores EAC leaders to empower the youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Leaders in the East African Community (EAC) have a responsibility to create and offer a conducive environment for youth ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T09:56:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T10:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/11\/img-618ba10496475.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Minister Mbabazi implores EAC leaders to empower the youth\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-10T09:56:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T10:38:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2021\/11\/img-618ba10496475.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Rwanda\",\"Minister Mbabazi\",\"Rwanda\",\"Youth\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/economy\/minister-mbabazi-implores-eac-leaders-to-empower-the-youth\",\"name\":\"Minister Mbabazi implores EAC leaders to empower the youth - 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