Emmanuel at House of Commons, calls for fairness of trade from West

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, has asked developed countries to not restrict the free movement of labour across borders to facilitate fairness in global trade.

“If we say the world is a global village where goods and services are freely exchanged,” he argued, “the freedom of labour should follow suit and therefore not be inhibited.”

Speaking during his keynote address at the “Trade for Peace,” themed “Seventh London Political Summit and Awards” at the House of Commons in Westminster, Emmanuel also, during the questions and answers session, asked international funds managers to invest in the real sector of the economy and not merely be satisfied with pocketing the returns on their capital and then moving elsewhere.

Earlier, in his welcome remarks, the parliamentary host, Paul Bristow, Member of Parliament for Peterborough, noted that “trade breaks down barriers,” and that “the place to drive economic growth is Africa,” because of its huge youth population, among others.

However, Emmanuel lamented, in the keynote speech, that Africa needs “capacity building” for her people to achieve internal peace.He reckoned that poverty and unemployment are some of the reasons why there’re conflicts in some parts of the continent.

“What we need first is internal peace,” and “if Africa has that, we can then talk of peace.” Peace, according to him, is what will promote trade and not vice-versa. Noting that “Africa has about 30 per cent of the world mineral deposits,” the governor posited: “It’s the peace that will promote the trade and not trade that will promote peace.”

Summit Chairman, Prof. Kishan Devani, commended the governor for speaking “frankly” about the issues. Aside delivering the keynote address, Emmanuel was honoured with the “Political Governor of the Year Award, presented to him by Bristow.