Source: Afrique en ligne
African women want to bring real added value to the development of intra-African trade by implementing their sense of innovation and their dynamism, a spokesman of African women, Algerian Fatima Karadja, declared on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Speaking in an interview with PANA, Mrs. Karadja, vice-president of the economic, social and cultural council of the African Union, said Africa must integrate women into commercial activities by granting them access to bank credits.

'African women have a sense of creativeness and an energy which they can transform into actions in the service of the development of intra-African trade. This is all about carrying out specific activities in favour of these women to start compensating for the imbalance they experience as compared to men,' she explained.

Mrs. Karadja said gender equality must serve the development of intra-African trade.

'In this perspective, which can only benefit Africa's development, women must be further integrated. They have an extraordinary capacity to cope with complex structures . They can therefore through their involvement, bring real added value to Intra-African trade,' she said.

The development of intra-African trade will be the central theme of the 18th summit of the African Union scheduled to take place from 23 to 30 January in Addis Ababa.

According to the different estimates, trade exchanges between the different African countries only represent 12% to 13% of transactions carried out between the Continent and the rest of the world.