AfCFTA Forum Spurs Demand for Industrial Gases, Opportunities for Air Products & Chemicals
- • Forum discussions affect industrial gas suppliers like Air Products, targeting removal of trade and infrastructure barriers. • Policy shifts could lower cross‑border gas distribution costs, benefiting Air Products and incentivising clean energy fuel projects. • Recommendations aim to unlock projects that attract suppliers like Air Products into Africa’s growing industrial economy.
AfCFTA Forum Frames New Demand for Industrial Gas and Energy Services
Policy Push could Expand Industrial Gas Markets Across AfCFTA
The African Prosperity Dialogues in Accra are elevating discussions that directly affect industrial gas and energy suppliers such as Air Products & Chemicals, with delegates focusing on removing trade and infrastructure barriers that constrain manufacturing and healthcare supply chains across the African Continental Free Trade Area. TheAfricanDream Consultancy’s representative, Abeeb Lekan Sodiq, is engaging policymakers and business leaders to press for reforms that boost export capacity, improve access to capital and digital infrastructure, and catalyse investment — steps that underpin demand for oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and related industrial services.
Speeches and panel sessions on SME scale‑up, financing and cross‑border value chains place energy‑intensive small and medium enterprises at the centre of growth plans, creating potential new markets for gas producers and industrial service providers. Participants are linking finance and digital trade initiatives to tangible project needs — factory expansions, medical gas supply in hospitals, and regional logistics — that require secure on‑site production, bulk supply chains and investment in hydrogen and other low‑carbon gases. Air Products and its peers stand to benefit if policy changes lower the cost of cross‑border gas distribution and incentivise clean energy fuel projects.
Networking and bilateral meetings during the three‑day forum are producing actionable leads between governments, financiers and private sector suppliers, with Abeeb meeting high‑level figures such as Ghanaian Ambassador Amma Twum‑Amoah to reinforce continental coordination. Those conversations aim to translate AfCFTA commitments into permitting, standards and financing mechanisms that make gas plant investments and regional pipelines commercially viable, opening avenues for long‑term industrial partnerships and project development across multiple African markets.
Scale‑up Dialogue Emphasises Women and Youth Entrepreneurs
Day‑one and day‑two sessions concentrate on women’s export readiness and SME scaling, with policy proposals to remove cultural and regulatory barriers and expand access to finance. Organisers highlight that enabling women‑led and youth enterprises in manufacturing and services will increase demand for industrial inputs, including gases and energy services.
Wide Participation Signals Continental Momentum
More than 7,000 delegates from 104 countries attend the Accra event, which mixes policy sessions, cultural showcases and bilateral meetings to accelerate AfCFTA implementation. TheAfricanDream positions itself as a conduit between local entrepreneurs and continental decision‑makers, reporting recommendations intended to unlock projects that can attract suppliers like Air Products into Africa’s growing industrial economy.
