Over 250 exhibitors are to attend the West Africa Automotive Show (WAAS) Exhibition and Conference scheduled to hold in Lagos.
The show, which runs from May 14th to 16th at the Landmark Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, will also play host to upwards of 4,500 professional visitors attending the trade event.
The theme of the conference is the status of the enabling environment and strategies to create it, especially within the ECOWAS and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) frameworks.
Conference sessions will look at aspects such as supply chain extensions, local and regional manufacturing opportunities, including reverse engineering and 3D printing, as well as the economics of automotive and parts manufacturing.
The conference is to be chaired by Luqman Mamudu, former Director at the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) and Principal Partner/CEO at Transtech.
Speaking on the significance of the conference, Mamudu said the conference is a major opportunity for automotive business owners, including global OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), to find out more about the regional agenda of home governments as they align with the renewed ECOWAS and AfCFTA agendas on intra-Africa trade.
He said, “A better understanding of the rules of origin protocols will enable stakeholders to reposition for the massive investment opportunities that are being or are about to be unleashed.
The WAAS 2023 inaugural conference identified the content of Nigeria’s automotive components and parts sector within the structure of its emerging automotive development programme.
The choice of Nigeria as a reference for the West Africa region was informed by the fact that Nigeria’s 15 million registered vehicles account for over 75% of the region’s vehicle population.
“Those who attended the 2023 conference were better informed about the overall automotive sector business opportunities, but specifically the deep-rooted factors critical for repositioning by existing investors and investment decisions by new entrants.
This year’s conference programme will highlight potential investment opportunities in component and part manufacturing in the region.
“Discussions will include manufacturing collaboration among member countries and component manufacturers leveraged on comparative advantage, a win-win development model for everyone,” says Mr Mamudu.
“The presentations should also inform government decisions on critical fiscal policy interventions for the desired benefits of economic diversification, massive employment, and an increase in GDP.
Approaches to building the local automotive components and parts manufacturing industry are topics that will be explored at this year’s West Africa Automotive Show Conference.
The conference runs on the first two days of WAAS and will be sponsored by Saglev, while Automedics Africa will run training sessions on vehicle repair and maintenance on the third day.”
Alongside the conference will be the WAAS Exhibition, which is expanding into three exhibition halls. Among the highlights will be a huge representation from China with their pavilion, while the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) is hosting the Indian pavilion.
Exhibitors will also be coming from the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Poland, Egypt, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Brazil, and many other countries.
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