“Towards better access to the regional and international market for fishery and aquaculture products”. This is the theme of the workshop which brought together the actors of the fishing and aquaculture sector on Thursday March 10, 2021 in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital.
The workshop, which aims to discuss the future of fisheries and aquaculture trade in Africa, is initiated by the Intergovernmental Organization for Information and Cooperation for the Marketing of Fishery Products in Africa ( INFOPÊCHE) and Cooperation between African States bordering the Atlantic Ocean (COMHAFAT).
The chief of staff and representative of the Minister of Animal and Fishery Resources, Dr. Anlyou Meïté Zoumana indicated, in his opening speech, that the objective of this workshop is to reinforce the role and importance of fishery products and aquaculture in economic growth, through a better contribution to the trade balance and the balance of payments.
During his speech, Dr. Anlyou insisted on the need for IMFOPÊCHE to have first-hand statistics covering the major players in the fishing industry. These include “a reliable list of African exporters and importers, associations of shipowners and associations of processors of fishery products”.
For his part, the director of INFOPÊCHE, Shep Helguile, said that the trade in fishery products is a dynamic sector and a major provider of employment in Africa. In this regard, li pointed out: “according to the world fisheries situation and the FAO in 2020, more than 120 million people are employed in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in the world, most of whom work in the developing countries”.
“Africa’s fairly limited participation in this world fish trade represents just over 4.6% of the total value of global trade”, for his part castigated the Secretary General of ATLAFCO, Benabbou Abdelouahed.
According to him, it is now more than urgent to create a regional dynamic aimed at improving access to fish marketing in international and African markets.
Moctar FICOU / VivAfrik