Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said the current economic crisis sweeping the world must be a wake-up call for African countries to embrace a technological approach to development, especially as the continent seeks to rebuild and develop.

Addressing a high-level “BOMA” event supported by the African Union (www.africaboma.com), the Vice President warned against focusing on the short-term symptoms of the current crisis and to forget the structural problems faced by the most affected countries. , which are mainly linked to the lack of competitiveness of their economies. A situation that only technological progress can permanently resolve.

The Boma forum brought together global political and business leaders to deliberate on Africa’s progress towards Agenda 2063, the AU’s timetable for transforming Africa into a global economic force.

Vice President Bawumia said that the two factors influencing the global economic crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine – have exposed gaps in the global economic and political architecture, which will affect the quest for growth in Europe. Africa, if the continent does not act decisively to build tech industries that are more resilient to global economic shocks. It is clear that countries that rely primarily on primary industries suffer harsher consequences when the global economy takes a nosedive than those that have diversified their economies through higher technological inputs.

“The challenges that have beset the global economy may have been fueled by temporary crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. But these challenges are still a wake-up call for Africa that there are deep structural gaps in the global economic and political architecture that can thwart its rise unless serious concerted efforts are made to fill them.” , Dr. Bawumia told the forum on Friday.

To bridge the structural gap, Dr. Bawumia observed, the African continent needs to embrace the emerging data-driven technology approaches for development, which would help create the right structure for African businesses and SMEs and link them together. isolation from the corporate world.

Urging other African countries to continue, Dr. Bawumia noted that Ghana has chosen to embark on a path of economic development marked by increasing technological content, especially digital, in its development programs.

Responding to Meta (Facebook’s parent company) Chairman for Global Affairs and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Nick Clegg, Dr Bawumia conceded to some current challenges to optimally harness data, talent and improving regulations to advance the course of technology. progress in Ghana and Africa. But he insisted that these issues receive the necessary attention. Elaborating on the theme, he added, “if the massive changes now underway, such as the rapid emergence of a new type of internet, are to benefit, rather than further marginalize Africa, the continent must make the right investments now”.

He continued: “We are keenly aware of these potential pitfalls and are investing in both institutions and infrastructure that will allow us both to overcome the limitations of our infrastructure and our education system and to rapidly advance regulatory capabilities. we need to deal with complex challenges such as the balance of sovereignty. and efficiency as we become a data-driven economy. »

Dr. Bawumia, while acknowledging the efforts made by some African countries to embrace technology-driven development, also shared with the forum some specific areas in which Ghana has invested and how they should boost trade.

“We have successfully developed a new identity infrastructure that will transform credit scoring for SMEs, remove e-commerce bottlenecks and lay the foundation for modernizing government business support services,” he said. -he declares.

“We have totally transformed the fintech landscape and reworked our mobile telecommunications industry to enable us to take advantage of the 5G revolution and the Internet of Things as it accelerates.”

“No one who has followed our political journey in Ghana can doubt our total commitment to the technological approach to development,” the Vice President added.

In addition to Sir Nicholas Clerg, who is the Chairman of Global Affairs of Meta, owners of popular social media sites Facebook and Instagram, the Forum was also addressed by former US President Clinton, former US Secretary of State , Hillary Clinton and many other dignitaries. including the Director General of the World Health Organization and the Under Secretary General of the United Nations.

Also in attendance were several former and serving African Heads of State, the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union (AU) and a number of AU Commissioners.

Reacting to comments from some of these eminent personalities, Dr. Bawumia stressed the importance of a global mindset shift in technology investments. “Companies like Meta, Google and Amazon need to think beyond consumer products and targeted advertising and invest heavily in utility infrastructure on the ground.”

He added, “Their ability to connect with their customers beyond Facebook posts and tweets and impact their lives depends on this deeper integration into industry and enterprise infrastructure. There are also broader issues of fairness.

“While we recognize that some of the evolving technologies are changing the way we do business and removing barriers, they also provide us with the opportunity to create the fluid structures and flexible infrastructure of our SMEs and startups, long isolated from blockchains. We must take the leap and convert these challenges into opportunities in a broader market shaped by the AfCFTA.

ABOUT AFRICA BOMA

The Boma of Africa (www.africaboma.com) was jointly organized by the African Union, the AfCFTA Secretariat, Africa CDC and AfroChampions. With support from Afreximbank, Ecobank, IC Publications, Village Foundation, BADEA, Orango and MTN.

It was instituted in response to a 2019 decision by African Union Heads of State that a date in early July each year should be set aside to mark and celebrate efforts to achieve the African integration.

Convened at the highest level, the Boma seeks to go beyond simple deliberations and deepen actions that can inspire Africans in various fields such as science and technology, education and creative arts to hone talents for the common good of Africa.

Boma 2022 practical results

This year, the African Union launched two main flagship initiatives in Boma: the African Vaccine Passport and eHealth Backbone (www.africacdc.org/trusted-vaccines) and a digital platform to accelerate implementation of the AfCFTA (www.afcfta.app ).

The African Vaccination Passport allows every citizen of the African Union to acquire free digital proof of their vaccinations that can be verified worldwide using the PanaBIOS (www.panabios.org) and Global Haven (www.globalhaven) mechanisms .org) supported by UNDP.

The digital platform, called AfCFTA Hub, interconnects national, regional and private digital applications to build the capacity of SMEs to grow their businesses and/or export their products across Africa through improved logistics, network of points of sale, the integration of financial technologies and the brand. development support. Funding is provided through the Affiliate Caravan Initiative of the AfCFTA. Every SME or startup in the African Union is now entitled to a free AfCFTA number after launch.

There is a supply chain component called ProPer (www.properseals.org), to manage potential negative side effects of the AfCFTA’s trade liberalization program such as dumping, smuggling and counterfeiting.

Ghana is a pioneer country in adopting both the AU Vaccine Trust Passport and the AfCFTA Hub Digital Corridor for intra-African trade.