The successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and its benefits to the African continent, will dominate discussions at the National Tourism and Transportation Summit and Expo.
The 2023 summit and expo, a combined tourism transportation national event, with the theme: AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to Collaboration has been scheduled for 3-4 April, 2023 in Abuja.
According to a statement by the organising committee, “The 2023 edition of the Summit and Expo provides yet another rare opportunity where stakeholders in the Travel Tourism and Hospitality industry as well as the Transportation sector in Nigeria, and indeed the African continent, are provided with a platform to meet and engage in a healthy dialogue for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) beneficial to all countries within the continent.”
On the choice of the theme, the ITPN said it was deliberate with the intent to deepen a clearer understanding of possible challenges and barriers that lay ahead in the implementation of the AfCFTA regime and mitigate possible solutions by implementing government regulatory agencies and the organized private sector for increased beneficial participation in the trade liberalization and tariff waiver contents of the AfCFTA regime as enunciated by its progenitors.
“It is indeed designed to be a major milestone in actualizing the full potentials of the free trade agreement towards benefiting both private businesses and government across the African region, as well as open up a great deal of discussions within the circle of relevant decision makers, policy enunciators, administrators, organizations, agencies, associations, trade communities and African countries,” the statement added.
The loaded programme, ITPN said has made the event a must attend event for key industry players, Chief Executives, Associations, Decision Makers as it provides the platform and opportunities to interact and meet with international regulatory and policy setting bodies, embassies, regulators, employers and investors to showcase and market your products and services covering such expanse fields and business areas as Aviation, Maritimes, Railways, Airport operators, Road Transportation, National and International Traveling Communities, Hoteliers and Hospitality Operations.
“Essentially, the 6th edition of the Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo is fully focused on complementing the efforts of the African Union on integrating African countries economically, through trade liberalization of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) initiative.
“As a developmental program for the promotion of the ideals of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), organizers have, for three years in succession, initiated and promoted the desired areas to explore, dialogue and mainstream in ensuring that all countries of the African Continent, and indeed the host country of the Summit and Expo – Nigeria are not left out in putting the necessary parameters in place for the successful take off and implementation of the AfCFTA provisions for a unified bilateral trade operations in a single market environment that AfCFTA was established to achieve.
“As usual, the event as a whole, offers a unique opportunity for policy makers, regulators, entrepreneurs, key players in the tourism, transport, banking, insurance, Oil and Gas sectors of the economy, investors, numerous esteemed customers and the general public to engage in an All-Participatory discourse aimed at chatting the desired synergy, collaboration and connective inter-play and overcoming the challenges and barriers between and amongst implementers of the AfCFTA protocol contents for maximum economic benefits of the of the Continental free trade agreement.
“Therefore, a coordinated effort at exploring possible areas of hiccups, challenges and all forms of difficulties capable of hindering the AfCFTA take off and implementation will be tackled and solutions brought forth through collaborative and mitigating initiatives by all stakeholders in order to promote a greater understanding in participatory cooperation of the value of partnerships as implementation tools for the success of AfCFTA in fostering sustainable growth and development of the African Continent.
“The 2023 edition of the International Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo Programme will also consist of a series of activities such as the Host City Walk, to kick start activities for the event. This is to give participants the opportunity to warm up physically in preparation for the marathon of events when the Summit and Expo kicks off.
“There will be sessions of the Tourism Transport Summit where presentations will be made by carefully selected experts as Key Speakers on vital topics as Sub Themes to the main Theme of the Summit and Expo – AfCFTA: Exploring Intra-African Trade, Tourism and Transportation Opportunities and Mitigating the Barriers to Collaboration.
“Exhibition-B2B and G2B sessions will also feature in the Two-Day event that promised to be fulfilling. The Expo content of the event has a primary objective to create a platform among all major stakeholders at both national and international levels as well as public and private sectors to interact in a serene atmosphere with customers and investors leading to a healthy understanding of the connectivity and operational ease of cooperation between the two industries and to most importantly overcome impending challenges and hurdles of the AfCFTA protocol implementation. It is to further provide the platform for operators in the aviation, road, railways, maritime, and those within the hospitality and tourism value chain and within the confines of the AfCFTA protocols, showcase their products and services to consumers, business membership organizations and to the regulatory agencies.
“To crown it all, there will be the Tourism Transport Fellowship inductions of deserving practitioners, key players and critical stakeholders of the industry instituted to recognize and foster excellence in the Tourism industry and the related fields of operations critical to the sector. The induction allows the industry to recognize those individuals, organizations and events that have gone over and above board to offer superior tourism transport experiences. The investiture is meant to encourage the individuals and organizations to keep providing the diverse range of high-quality tourism transport services so that tourists keep coming back year after year.
“Following on from the induction and investiture session is the Gala Night under an environment of absolute quietude and decorum for attendees of the 2023 Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo. It is meant to offer leisure moments to participants, guests and visitors to the Summit and Expo in an informal environment to refresh cool off with sumptuous meals refreshing drinks as well as socialize; an integral aspect of tourism and hospitality which Nigeria and Nigerians are well known for,” the statement stated.
