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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commissioned Ghanaian businesses to seize the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which comes into force in January 2021, to expand its reach and contribute to the development of Ghana.
“We in Ghana cannot afford to miss this opportunity. We are hopeful that the private sector, actively facilitated and supported by the government, will be at the forefront to take advantage of the broad possibilities presented by the AfCFTA, ”he said.
President Akufo-Addo said this when he opened the Second National Conference on AfCFTA in Accra yesterday.
Its theme is: “Empowering Ghanaian companies to reap the benefits of the AfCFTA under the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS).”
The two-day conference aims to bring together relevant stakeholders from Ghana’s public and private sectors to discuss government export development interventions that aim to empower the private sector to harness the benefits of the AfCFTA.
The AfCFTA is based in Accra and the agreement will enter into force in January 2021.
Abundant resources
President Akufo-Addo said at the conference that trade would be free of tariffs and quotas between AfCFTA member states on the continent.
He said that many African countries, including Ghana, were endowed with abundant resources, but countries had not been able to translate resources into the much-needed growth and development they desired, leaving their economies in a fragile and unsatisfied state.
He said that to take advantage of the opportunities, his administration, since 2017, implemented various innovative and strategic interventions to promote and expand production, as well as add value to what is produced.
Among some of the innovative strategies, he said, are the One-district One-factory (1D1F) initiative and the development of new strategic anchoring industries, such as the apparel, textile, pharmaceutical and automotive assembly plants and the component manufacturing.
Others were Sowing for Food and Employment, Sowing for Export and Rural Development (PERD) and the establishment of 67 commercial resource centers, 31 technological solutions centers and the development of industrial parks and special economic zones.
He said that all initiatives were geared towards developing a robust and resilient macroeconomy that would lay a solid foundation for the structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy.
The president said he had drawn attention to the programs and projects to reiterate the point that Ghana had already laid the groundwork for its private sector to exploit the inherent benefits of the AfCFTA.
Assistance
He reaffirmed the government’s determination to help Ghanaian businesses make the most of the AfCFTA and ensure that the necessary financial and human resources are mobilized and developed to make Ghana a new manufacturing and financial services hub for the African continent.
He was confident that with the collective desire for shared prosperity, the AfCFTA would succeed and generate new impetus and dynamism for the rapid growth of African economies, as well as deepening the continent’s integration processes.
“Empowered Ghanaian businesses should be front-line players on this exciting new journey to Africa’s economic recovery. We owe it to the unborn generations to ensure that the world’s largest trading bloc, the results of which will be gratifying to all Africans and which will help us achieve the Africa we want, does not waver, ”added President Akufo-Addo.
Support for
The Secretary General of AfCFTA, Mr. Wamkele Mene, commended President Akufo-Addo for the remarkable support he had provided to the secretariat.
He greeted the president for the two-pronged approach he had instituted: fighting COVID-19 and continuing to integrate markets in Africa.
He said he shared President Akufo-Addo’s vision of freeing Africa from the shackles of the colonial economic model and his commitment to making Ghana the commercial and diplomatic capital of Africa.
Market
Mr. Mene said that one of the biggest constraints on trade between Africans was the transaction cost caused by converting the United States dollar to various local currencies, which led to sustained fragmentation of trade.
Mene said the secretariat was collaborating with other stakeholders to establish an efficient and affordable digital payment and settlement platform across borders and transact through a digitized pan-African payment and settlement system.
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