African Union to Organize the Africa Industrialization Week 2018 (AIW 2018)

MEDIA ADVISORY – AU

The African Union Commission (AUC) plans to organize an Africa Industrialization Week (AIW) to be held from the 18th to the 23rd November 2018 at the AUC Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The afternoon of 18th November 2018 is dedicated for the Official Opening Ceremony by the H.E Paul Kagame, Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Republic of Rwanda, High Level dignitaries from Member States, RECs, United Nations Agencies, Diplomatic Corps and Private Sector will attend the Opening session.

The commemoration of the Africa Industrialization Day (AID2018) to be organized by the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission in partnership with the NEPAD Agency, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Regional Economic communities (RECs) and Development Partners. The Theme for the AID2018 and AIW2018 is: “Promoting Regional Value Chains in Africa: A pathway for accelerating Africa’s structural transformation, industrialization and pharmaceutical production”.

Given the importance of Industrial development as an engine for inclusive and sustainable development, the AIW2018 seeks to enhance consciousness and understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with the industrialization drive on the continent. This is meant to mobilize African leaders, policy makers, and private sector and development cooperating partners to enhance dialogue on the pan-African industrialisation agenda, with emphasis on how development of regional value chains can a be a major catalyst towards boosting industrial production capacity, and hence accelerated industrialization for the continent as we gear up on the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
The AIW2018 will also among other things, promote the implementation of the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa (AIDA), the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa (PMPA), the SME Strategy, the Boosting Intra-African Trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area and the UN General Assembly’s Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) in the context of Agenda 2063.

The 1st AU-NEPAD Africa Pharma Conference will be the flagship event of the Africa Industrialization Week (AIW). This event is co-organized by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Social Affairs and the NEPAD agency. It will be held from the 19th to 21st November, 2018 with aim to contribute to efforts to boost local production of essential medicines. The conference will involve all relevant continental institutions, development partners, UN agencies, Member States and the private sector.

The week will also be commemorated through a series of events which will highlight the progress, achievements, and challenges faced by African governments in developing their industrial sectors. It will also provide a platform for business to business interface, to enhance prospects for developing business partnerships and investment promotion.
Some of the side events during the week will include:

 Continental Forum on Regional Value Chains and Mobilizing African Manufacturer’s (to support the linkage of Africa Regional Value Chains to the Global Value Supply);
 The Second Symposium on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Green Industrialization.
 A Workshop on Africa Enterprise Network, catalyzing SMEs and start-ups productivity;
 A Workshop on Youth Entrepreneurship to reduce migration, Youth and women empowerment in enterprise development; and
 A Workshop on Financing Industrialization.
 EIB-UNIDO Africa Day 2018: sustainable Industrialization in Africa.

Heads of State and Government, high level representatives of international organizations and senior policy makers from across the continent are expected to participate in the AIW2018.