While speaking during a two-day national AfCFTA implementation conference in Accra, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo urged Ghanaian businesses to prepare themselves to scoop the best opportunities created by the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) once it resumes next year. The president further asserted that it will be the right moment for the Ghanaian businesses and generally the private sector to take advantage of AfCFTA in their quest to boosting their businesses, especially with the gradually decreasing COVID-19 cases.
“We in Ghana cannot afford to let the window of opportunity slip. We hope that the private sector facilitated and supported by the government will be at the forefront of trying to take advantage of the vast possibilities presented by the AfCFTA,” said president Akufo-Addo.
Akufo-Addo went on to reveal that AfCFTA is a golden opportunity for Africa to create the largest free trade area in the world. The president urged businesses to take advantage of the AfCFTA trade since it is expected to create a $ 2.5 trillion economic bloc which will have the potential to link up to 1.3 billion people and such a milestone resonates with the government’s vision of avoiding depending on aids for survival.
“A self-reliant Ghana that has to free itself from the mindset of dependence, aid, charity and hunger and should be determined to make disciplined use of its resources the basis for her growth and prosperity,” the President asserted.
It is vital for Ghanaian businesses to advantage of AfCFTA since its main objective is to grow Intra-African trade by creating a continental goods and services market, paving a way for the creation of a Customs union, as well as enabling free movement of people and capital. It is reported that AfCFTA intends to grow this trade through coordinating liberalization of trade across Africa as well as establishing a better harmonization.
Establishment of component manufacturing and automobile assembly, Planting for food and jobs, creation of strategic pharmaceuticals, textiles, and garments, as well as the establishment of One District One Factory are, according to President Akofu-Addo, are some of the laid down preparations prior to AfCFTA. Akofu-Addo further indicates that these preparations have been done in an effort to diversify the country’s economy far beyond the traditional dependence on gold, cocoa, and timber.
“Let me reaffirm the government’s determination to assist Ghanaian businesses take full advantage of AfCFTA and to ensure that the required financial and human resources are mobilized and developed to make Ghana a new manufacturing hub and financial service center for the continent,” President Akofu-Addo said.
Akofu-Addo Urges Businesses to Take Advantage of AfCFTA
