President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana has said that many African countries are blessed with an abundance of mineral resources, which have not been adequately exploited over the years to support growth and development of their economies.
Addressing the Second National Conference on the African Continental Free Trade Area in Accra on Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo expressed optimism that the continental initiative would succeed, and generate a new impetus and dynamism for the rapid growth of Africa’s economies and deepen the process of integration in Africa.
He assured that the Ghanaian Government would ensure that the required financial and human resources are mobilised and developed to make Ghana a new manufacturing hub and financial services centre for the African continent.
“Empowered Ghanaian enterprises should be frontline actors of this new, exciting journey in Africa’s economic history. We owe it to generations unborn to ensure that the biggest trading bloc on the globe, whose outcomes will be rewarding to all Africans, and which will assist in attaining the ‘Africa We Want, does not falter,” he said.
According to him, the AfCFTA provides enormous potential for trade and investments across various sectors which the Ghanaian businessmen should exploit.
“We hope that the private sector, facilitated and actively supported by the government, will be at the forefront of trying to take advantage of the vast possibilities presented by the AfCFTA,” he said.
Local media reports quoted President Akufo-Addo as saying that the Ghanaian government had taken necessary initiatives in its quest to develop a robust and resilient macroeconomy to establish a strong foundation for the structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy.
President Akufo-Addo assured the participants at the two-day conference, organised by Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the National AfCFTA Coordination Office that Ghana has already laid “the building blocks for our private sector to harness the benefits of AfCFTA”,
GIK/APA