ACCRA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Africa needs to take full advantage of its relationship with China to build up its technical, technological and industrial capacities for accelerated development, an African Union (AU) official has said.
Rossette Nyirinkindi Katungye, advisor on trade to the AU chairperson, told Xinhua on the sidelines of a meeting on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Accra.
"China comes in handy to offer expertise in the area of trade, industry, commerce as well as other sectors to aid Africa's new development paradigm," she said.
On the benefits of the in-coming continental free trade area agreement, she expressed the hope that African countries could use their national currencies for business transactions, and that "will boost trade and commerce on the continent."
Africa is rich in natural resources in the areas of human, land, minerals and medicinal properties, among others, which when harnessed, could fast-track the continent's rapid development, said the official.
Now that the continent has laid the foundation for intra-African trade through the AfCFTA, Katungye argued that there was no excuse for the continent to stagnate.
The AU seeks to increase the value of trade on the continent to at least 70 billion U.S. dollars by 2040 from the current 50 billion U.S. dollars.
A single purchase
