Markets, Not Meetings: Why AfCFTA Policy Demands Delivery, Not Development Theatre
The IPC supports calls for Namibian businesses to utilise the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). However, government policy continues to be undermined by a severe lack of operational capacity.
At the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair, 1,872 local businesses applied for exhibition space, yet only 485 were accommodated. Leaving nearly three out of four entrepreneurs outside the gate demonstrates a clear failure to provide market access our local economy desperately needs.
Similar contradictions exist across our trade corridors. The N$329 million Ondangwa–Oshikango railway line has gone more than two years without a TransNamib train running, even as the government allocates N$952.1 million to railway infrastructure for 2026/27. Meanwhile, Namibia’s trade deficit stood at N$20 billion for the first half of 2026, with raw commodities making up two-thirds of exports.
Trade policy cannot be driven by speeches without space or rail without service. The IPC will lay these infrastructure and trade failures before Parliament to demand actionable freight targets, trade fair expansion plans, and genuine support for local producers.
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