(5 minutes read)
· Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat underscored the importance of the continent’s economic transformation agenda
· They visualized a crtical role for AfCAFTA for catalyzing and integrating economies of the continent
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo and chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat underscored the importance of the continent’s economic transformation agenda. They visualized a critical role for AfCAFTA for catalyzing and integrating economies of the continent.
Both leaders were speaking at a recent ceremony to commission the permanent secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which was conducted through the virtual medium.
Ghana was decided as the venue for the headquarters in July last year by the African leaders during a Summit of AU Heads of states in Niamey. The trading bloc is expected to spur regional trade among member countries. The regional trading arrangement was ratified by 28 countries of the total 54 nations in the continent.
AfCATA’s President Akufo-Addo appealed to member states that have not ratified the trading bloc to do so before the next AU summit in December. This would pave the way for the smooth commencement of trading from 1 January 2021, he stressed. He also pointed out that Africa should lay strong foundations for building a continent, whose existence goes beyond aid from donor countries.
The Ghanaian president said that the destruction of global supply chains has reinforced the necessity for closer integration amongst the African countries to boost mutual self-sufficiency and to reduce dependence on external sources.
AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area with a potential market of 1.2 billion people. The 54 African countries have a combined GDP of around US$3 trillion. The opening of the secretariat, Mahamat said was a stepping stone for continental integration.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) provided a US $5 million institutional support grant to the AU towards the establishment of the AfCFTA secretariat. Located in an ultra-modern office complex in the central business district of the Ghanaian capital, the office will become a hustling ground for activities once normal functioning starts after the Covid-19.
