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Communications Minister Ms Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will create the opportunity to provide technology solutions to businesses and individuals to boost entrepreneurship on the continent .
She said digital solutions designed by Africa and used by Africa were the main vehicle to facilitate Africa’s quest to become a digital single market, enabling the continent to take advantage of trade and payment systems. cross-border.
It will also enable Africa to achieve an integrated goal of digital citizen identification to enable each country to provide equitable social services to people across socio-economic borders.
The Minister said this in a speech read on her behalf by the Deputy Minister of Communications, Madame Ama Pomaa Boateng at the African Digital Forum.
The Forum, dubbed “Africa’s Digital Challenge, Africa’s Opportunity under AfCFTA”, was organized by Africa Integrated Development Communications Consultancy (AIDEC).
The minister said that Africa has the opportunity to harness digital technologies to fuel the socio-economic development of the continent.
Ghana, she said, had already started the process of securing its digital journey and several initiatives had been implemented in recent years.
Ms Owusu-Ekuful said her ministry is championing the government’s digital strategy, which has been prioritized in five thematic areas to enable the ministry to track progress over the next four years.
This included digital infrastructure and connectivity, digital skills, research and innovation, the digitization of postal and courier services, data protection, privacy and trust for digital networks and services, the legal framework. regulatory and political.
With over 15.5 million people registered on the Biometric National Identity Card (Ghana Card) system, the National Identification Authority, she said, was working with various agencies to integrate records of identity of citizens through the “Ghana Card” program.
In addition, the process of integrating the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Ghana Card was underway, adding that the National Identity Card database was also being synchronized with the Department of Ghana Police Service (GPS) criminal investigations.
Ms Owusu-Ekuful said the government has introduced the digital services and payments platform, Ghana.gov, for payments to public sector organizations, and as a single point of access for all government departments, departments and government agencies.
“This platform will facilitate the clearance of goods at ports and allow stakeholders to validate invoices, calculate port charges and facilitate secure transactions via mobile money and other payment systems,” a- she declared.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the Ghana Investment Climate Advisory Program is supporting the software systems change effort aimed at business reform and company registration in Ghana.
Ghana Standards Authority Director General Professor Alex Dodoo, speaking on “E-commerce, border trade protocols and standardization under AfCFTA,” said e-commerce with AfCFTA should be governed by standards, and that there was a need to develop and implement technical regulations for those standards.
He said governments within the AfCFTA should standardize e-commerce to ensure member states don’t feel cheated when trading with each other.
They should be aware of the deliberations aimed at normalizing trade on the continent, as this would help make locally produced materials more competitive with products from other continents.
Professor Dodoo said the technical committee of the International Organization for Standardization is working on a draft document on e-commerce transaction insurance to help protect consumers online.
He urged the government to join these efforts to help improve the country’s e-commerce industry.
The Director General of the Metropolitan Assembly of Accra, Mr. Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, said the Assembly is ready to use the tools available to provide smart services to the people of Accra.
He said the Assembly would take advantage of the city’s slums and innovation hubs to attract investment to the city to improve Ghana’s status as the financial and commercial heart of Africa.
The mayor said his team is working with the Ghana Tourism Authority to build a robust digital system to promote the Ghanaian cultural system and the tourism potential of Accra.
He added that the Assembly would also take advantage of the national identity card and the national property addressing system for the issuance of permits, licenses, business integration, among others.
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