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Participants in the conference in Gambaga
Ghanaian companies have been advised to diversify and add value to their products so that they can take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement and the new National Export Development Strategy ( NEDS).
The Executive Director (CEO) of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, noted that the AFCFTA offered business sector stakeholders the opportunity to expand their markets and trade with other African countries to obtain maximum benefits through the implementation of NEDS interventions.
The CEO gave the advice in Gambaga in the Northeast Region East Mamprusi Township in a speech read on her behalf by the Deputy Director General in charge of Human Resources and Administration, GEPA, Mr. Albert Kassim Diwura during a regional conference on the implementation of the AFCFTA and NEDS agreement.
Read: Ghana ready to AfCFTA – Minister of Commerce …
Regional conference
The nationwide exercise under the theme “Empowering Ghanaian companies to reap the benefits of the AFCFTA agreement under the NEDS” was jointly organized by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), GEPA and the National Coordination Office of the AFCFTA.
The engagement, which brought together commercial operators in various sectors of the region’s economy, aimed to sensitize and encourage Ghanaian commercial actors on the need to increase production, add value to their products, and harness the potentials of the AFCFTA when start in January. 2021.
NEDS ‘Dr Asare noted that, NEDS, which is a 10-year policy document, was intended to empower companies in Ghana, especially those in the Non-Traditional Export Sector (NTE), to diversify production and contribute to the country’s industrialization agenda.
Therefore, the regional conference aimed to enlighten the business community on some of the products that Ghana had a comparative advantage over other African countries and how NEDS interventions could empower the private sector to boost their markets and business opportunities to contribute. to the national development agenda.
“In the next 10 years of NEDS and AFCFTA implementation, the country is expected to increase NTE earnings to approximately US $ 25.3 billion from the current US $ 2.8 billion. Each district is expected to identify an exportable product and invest to provide the raw materials needed to power the factories that are being established under the government’s flagship program, One District One Factory (1D1F), ”he said.
Technical Advisor, Industrial Parks and Special Economic Zones, MoTI, Dr. John-Hawkins Asiedu, explained that when the AFCFTA is fully implemented, it would be the second largest trading block with a single market of approximately 55 countries that has a population of more than 1.2 billion and a combined Gross Domestic Product of 3.4 trillion dollars.
“It is worth noting that the agreement, when fully implemented, has the potential to boost intra-African trade by up to 52.3 percent by 2022 and this could double as non-tariff barriers are removed,” he stressed.
He indicated that so far about 54 of the 55 countries have signed and 33 have ratified and reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure that businesses in Ghana fully benefit from the AFCFTA agreement.
He said: “The AfCFTA National Action Plan and the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) have been developed as a framework to reinvigorate our export development efforts with a strong focus on the African continental market.”
Northeast Regional Vice Minister Tahiru Tia Ahmmed noted that the construction of the Pwalugu multipurpose dam in the region, which would benefit some 24,000 hectares of irrigated land, would allow indigenous people to increase and diversify production in areas of agriculture, tourism and crafts and make the most of AFCFTA opportunities.
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