Arusha, Tanzania – Thursday, September 18, 2025: A delegation from the African Union Commission (AUC) led by Mrs. Ron Osman, Director of Industry, Minerals, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, met with the EABC Secretariat to strengthen collaboration on advancing Africa’s industrialization, regional integration, and private sector development.
The dialogue underscored Africa’s need to capture greater value from its natural resources through value addition, manufacturing, and regional value chains.
Mr. Adrian Raphael Njau, Acting Executive Director of EABC, reaffirmed the private sector’s pivotal role in translating the AU Commodity Strategy into tangible results. He emphasized that leveraging Africa’s raw materials through value addition will generate jobs, create wealth, boost exports, and reduce dependence on external markets. He insisted the need for Africans to upscale their appetite for exploiting their natural resources instead of overdepending on external investors.
Mrs. Osman highlighted that the AU Commodity Strategy prioritizes three sectors — agriculture, minerals, and energy — to accelerate industrialization, strengthen Africa’s ownership in commodity pricing, and advance manufacturing as a pillar of transformation.
Other key areas of collaboration include:
- Strengthening private sector involvement in Regional Coordination Committees on the AU Commodity Strategy.
- Enhancing private sector role in commodity-led industrialization and intra-African trade through value addition
- Promoting Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial clusters for SMEs.
- Showcasing opportunities at the East African Business & Investment Summit (EABIs), Nairobi, 16th–17th October 2025.
- Mobilizing participation in African Industrialization Week (17th–21st November 2025, Uganda).
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