Ghana will benefit enormously from AfCFTA – Minister

Company News of Thursday, July 11, 2019

Source: dailyguideafrica.com

2019-07-11

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanteng, stressed that Ghana would benefit enormously from the hosting of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

S addressing reporters during the series "Briefing of the Minister" of the Ministry of Information, on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, in Accra, the minister stressed: "The hosting of the Secretariat will allow Ghana to become an attractive destination for investment and to actively promote foreign direct investment. "

He added that this would also attract major international financial institutions and would become the preferred place to cite the headquarters of international companies operating in Africa; open up new market opportunities on preferential terms for Ghanaian producers, especially SMEs, and strengthen Ghana's current industrial development agenda and contribute to the diversification of the Ghanaian economy.

Ghana, he said, would have the opportunity to host various regional and continental meetings and other events badociated with the TACA, to take advantage of many other ancillary benefits that would improve the incomes of many Ghanaians and to recruit local professionals and administrative staff to the Secretariat.

Kyeremanteng warned, however, against the lack of naivety by insisting that "Ghana can and must seize the opportunity to host the AfCTA Secretariat to become the new commercial capital. from Africa, a regional shopping center, an epic economic center and a new gateway to the mainland ".

He revealed that before Ghana won the bid for the Secretariat, the government, through many interventions and policies, had already placed Ghana in a good position to benefit from the many benefits of hosting the country. Secretariat.

Initiatives such as the District, a Factory (1D1F), a Region, a Park (1R1P), the Strategic Anchoring Industries Initiative, the development of SMEs and the promotion of standards are interventions aimed at strengthening the capacity of industrial production of the economy.

In the context of trade facilitation, customs management reforms, including the one-stop shop platform, as well as the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement are key government interventions for Ghana to be strategically positioned to take advantage of the Secretariat's hosting.

The port expansion project, the expansion of roads, airports and railways are also some of the government's efforts to improve the country's trade-related infrastructure.

The AfCFTA is a unique market covering the entire African continent. So far, fifty-three of the fifty-four countries have signed the agreement with Eritrea, the only country to do so.

As one of the first countries to sign the agreement, Ghana played a central role in the negotiations of the CAFTA between 2015 and 2018. Ghana was the first country to propose The Secretariat, after the initial signing at the AU Summit in March. , 2018.

One of AfCFTA's main strategic objectives will be to increase intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade on the African continent.

It is estimated that intra-African trade will increase to $ 35 billion a year, or 52% by 2022.