By Nicholas Tate, Managing Director, Tate Freight Forms Ltd.

– In considering the positives and negatives of key agreements, are trade blocs, bilateral agreements and FTAs a facilitator or a hindrance to intra-regional trade in Africa?
– African regional trade has some of the worst indicators in doing business, such as the highest volume of documents needed, the longest time to export, and the highest costs of importing/exporting:
– Is this a banking or policy issue?
– Improving infrastructure/logistics, restructuring cross-border tariffs/taxes, changing cultural mind sets: What are the biggest hurdles to increasing intra-regional trade in Africa?