Africa-Spain Summit: Investing in Africa is a safe bet
- The importance of reindustrialisation
- The role of intra-African trade
- Spanish presence in North Africa
The final day of the Africa-Spain Summit 2025, organised by One Africa Forums and held at the Casa Árabe headquarters under the slogan ‘Spain and Africa: a global, sustainable and inclusive partnership’, began with a debate on the resilience and importance of relations between Africa and Spain, focusing on industrialisation and inclusion.
The first panel discussed how relations between the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can help improve the continent's trade balance with the rest of the world, especially Spain and Europe; increase the value of African products; and digitise the continent.
The participants were: Alfonso Ruiz Livramento, Chief of Staff of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA); Assia Ben Saad, Director of Cooperation and Partnerships at the Moroccan Agency for Investment and Export Development (AMDIE); Ahmed Salem El Arabi Nahah, Secretary General of the Mauritanian Ministry of Agriculture; Jean Stephane Menga, Director of Investment and Cooperation at the Cameroon Office; Anis Jaziri, President of the Tunisia Africa Business Council (TBAC); Gwendoline Abunaw, President of APECCAM, Cameroon; and Amine Belhaj Soulami, Chief of Staff at the Moroccan Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The importance of reindustrialisation
In the opening speeches, Assia, Director of Cooperation and Partnerships at the Moroccan Agency for Investment and Export Development (AMDIE), highlighted the importance of reindustrialising the textile sector in Morocco and supporting multinationals in setting up operations, noting that many of them need to comply with a series of sustainability rules in order to establish themselves.
To this end, Assia highlighted the importance of a legal framework that makes it easier for companies from all over the world to set up in Africa. As an example, the director of the cabinet emphasised the laws implemented by the Moroccan government to boost the automotive sector. However, she pointed out that without the help of banks and public-private financing, meeting the objectives for small and medium-sized enterprises could be complicated.
Amine Belhaj Soulami, chief of staff at the Moroccan Ministry of Industry and Trade, highlighted Morocco's role in relation to the rest of the continent in terms of the country's exports to Europe. ‘Morocco is the leading trading partner in the automotive sector and one of the main exporters of phosphates.’
‘Morocco has some of the best trade agreements with Europe on the African continent.’ Morocco is the main promoter of decarbonisation of industry on the continent. In addition to having the largest phosphate reserves on the continent, Amine pointed out the importance of green energy, especially green hydrogen, as the country's targets are to achieve 52% of its energy from sustainable sources.
The role of intra-African trade
Along the same lines, Alfonso Ruiz Livramento, chief of staff of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), highlighted the commercial achievements of African countries thanks to the extension of investment frameworks with Spain and Europe. Exports mainly focused on the automotive sector and sustainable trade, in everything related to green energy. Livramento pointed out that relations with Spain go beyond support for industrialisation.
He also highlighted the quality of African products and how the continent has been able to increase their value. However, he clarified that there is still a long way to go, as Africa's trade balance with the rest of the world remains negative for the continent's interests. In this regard, he clarified the importance of improving intra-African trade in order to be ‘more competitive with the rest of the world’.
Jean Stephane Menga, director of investment and cooperation at the Cameroon Office, explained that the strategy to be followed by African countries must be a ‘common strategy’ that is defined and based on equality. ‘Cameroon has the ambition to be the largest trading power in Central Africa.’
To this end, the government will seek to expand measures shared with other countries to facilitate customs clearance and the protocols to be followed by each country, thereby improving intra-African trade.
Gwendoline Abunaw, president of APECCAM, Cameroon, supported Livramento's position on the need for Spain to facilitate cooperation and access to African markets, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, not only in Cameroon but throughout the continent. Finally, she spoke of the importance of currency exchange and increasing the presence of the euro in Africa, and how the continent must examine itself in order to reach agreements with Europe.
Spanish presence in North Africa
Anis Jaziri, president of the Tunisia Africa Business Council (TBAC), highlighted Spain's presence in Tunisia's imports and exports. Jaziri clarified that Spain's economic presence in Tunisia is growing and called on other African countries to look at the policies adopted by Tunisia, which have led to a significant increase in the country's GDP.
He also pointed out that there are more and more programmes and companies willing to improve connectivity between African countries, but to do so, public and private authorities ‘must show them that investing in Africa is a safe bet’.
Jaziri praised the resilience of Morocco's automotive sector as an example for the entire continent, but added that without Europe's commitment, all of Africa's efforts will be in vain. For African countries, according to Jaziri, the biggest challenge is digitalisation, and to achieve this, Europe and Africa must work hand in hand.
Finally, the TBAC president emphasised the ‘unfair’ tariffs imposed on African exports by powers such as China, the United States and some European countries.