African economies should seize the opportunity to better integrate into technology-intensive global supply chains and boost prosperity, but this depends on their ability to harness key market and investment trends, the UN’s trade and development body UNCTAD said on Wednesday.
In a new UNCTAD shows that Africa can become a major exporter of higher value-added goods, creating growth and jobs, and fuelling a rise in productivity and wages.Launching the report in Nairobi, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan insisted it would offer a better future for the continent’s economies.
Diversifying trade “builds resilience and enhances innovation”, Ms. Grynspan said, adding that diversifaction was “key” for private sector development and employment opportunities for Africa’s growing population.
Green growth to continue
Despite global economic uncertainties, UNCTAD said that growth in green goods is here to stay, fueled by momentum on climate action. UNCTAD’s latest Technology and Innovation Report released last week characterized this moment as the “beginning of a green technological revolution”.
The report predicted that the market for electric cars, solar and wind energy, green hydrogen and other more environmentally friendly technologies would quadruple in value by 2030 to reach $2.1 trillion.
UNCTAD believes that international trade patterns will more and more closely reflect the green economic transition that’s underway.
Enduring tech gap
UNCTAD also that developed countries were seizing most of the economic opportunities related to green technologies, while developing countries were falling behind.
“Missing this green technological wave because of insufficient policy attention or a lack of investment targeted at building skills and capacities would have long-lasting negative consequences,” the UN body’s Technology and Innovation report maintained.
Among its recommendations, the UNCTAD report urged the international community to support emerging green industries in developing economies through global trade rules and technology transfers – so that developing countries could “catch up economically, while helping to protect the planet”.
