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Event participants
Ghana remains the best option for investors looking to explore the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) which started on January 1 of this year as a technical adviser to the Ministry of Trade and Commerce. Industry (MoTI), Mr. Anthony Nyame-Baafi, said.
He explained that foreign investors should take advantage of Ghana’s stable socio-economic and competitive environment by partnering with their Ghanaian counterparts to create multinational companies that can benefit more than 1.2 billion African consumers.
The event
Speaking at a conference day on Intra-African Trade, 2021 organized by the Ghana Industries Association (AGI) and the German Industry and Trade Delegation to Ghana, in Accra, Mr. Nyame-Baafi , said the government has so far laid the necessary foundation for the country to make increased investments, both locally and abroad.
Under the theme: “AfCFTA – Investment and Job Creation Opportunities in Ghana”, the event offered potential investors the opportunity to gain knowledge on how best to take advantage of the AfCFTA market by settling in the country.
“Ghana has sufficient trade and transformation plans in place as well as investment promotion measures and is ready for local and foreign investment under AfCFTA.
“We have developed a national action plan to complement the ongoing industrialization program. This includes the establishment of mechanisms and institutional structures such as the Interministerial Facilitation Committee, the National Steering Committee and the National Coordination Office of AfCFTA, ”he said.
Work group
He said technical working groups covering areas such as trade policy, trade facilitation, productive capacity / industrialization, development finance, factor market integration and trade related infrastructure – transport and communications, were all created to facilitate the creation of investors. in the countryside.
He said the country could boast of good enabling infrastructure such as energy, roads, seaports, airports and telecommunications, an educated and skilled workforce and access to justice. commercial, among others, making it a preferred destination for investments in the AfCFTA market area.
“The AfCFTA is a major step towards regional integration and remains a viable vehicle for industrialization and economic transformation of African countries.
The initiative will boost intra-African trade, stimulate investment and innovation, encourage structural transformation, improve food security, enhance economic growth and export diversification and, most importantly, give new impetus and dynamism to economic integration in Africa ”, he added.
Support for SMEs
For his part, AGI Vice President for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Mr. Humphrey Dake, said more needs to be done to enable local businesses, especially SMEs, to actively participate in the free market zone.
According to him, SMEs had to reposition themselves to benefit from the AfCFTA.
He said they should ensure consistency in their activities to support their clientele and create niches for themselves as well as obey trade rules so as not to miss the opportunities that continental trade would bring them.
He added that the deal not only provided an opportunity for Ghanaian companies to export to other countries, but also for companies from other African countries to export here as well, and therefore it was essential for the government to support the country’s SMEs. to get the most out of the deal.
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