The Ghanaian government has assured the Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) of support in its goal of promoting the development of Africa.
Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, gave the commitment in a speech at the official commissioning and handing over of the AfCFTA Secretariat to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mr. Moussa Faki, by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday in Accra.
“Our doors are widely opened to you,” Ayorkor Botchwey told the Secretary General of the AfCFTA, Mr. Wamkele Mene.
“Today is historic as we witness the realisation of one of the aspirations of the founding fathers of the Organisation of the African Union, now the African Union,” she said.
Local media reports said that the foreign minister noted that “the Africa we want has a shared framework for inclusive growth and sustainable development” over the next 50 years and that the agenda 2063 underscored the single regional market as one of the African Union’s flagship projects “to significantly accelerate growth of Intra-Africa trade and use trade more effectively as an engine of growth and sustainable development”.
The goal, according to Ayorkor Botchwey, is to double intra-Africa trade by 2022, by addressing persistent challenges comprehensively and resolutely.
“This is the time for us to raise our ambitions even higher. This is not the time to sit back and watch,” she said, adding that “the Africa we desire and have worked for over the years is clearly visible on the horizon,” local media reports quoted the minister as saying.
According to her, this day ushers the continent of Africa onto the right stage to rapidly move towards achieving the other related flagship projects of Agenda 2063.
In his speech, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, noted that the AfCFTA will address the challenges of small fragmented markets in Africa by creating a single market, which is estimated to increase intra African trade by about US$35billion annually by 2022.
Mr. Kyerematen said the successful implementation of the AfCFTA would increase the level of intra African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade within Africa.
According to him, the single regional market will add value to Africa’s abundant natural resources and promote economic diversification and industrialization.
The first Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Mr. Wamkele Mene, in his speech expressed gratitude to Ghana for hosting the Secretariat of the regional body.
Mr. Mene noted that since the negotiations were launched in Johannesburg in 2015, remarkable progress had been achieved largely because of the political will and commitment of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government of the AU, to ensure that Africa takes concrete steps towards the creation of an integrated market.
He paid tribute to President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, the Champion and Leader of the AfCFTA, for his unwavering and dedicated leadership of the AfCFTA.
He said under President Issoufou’s guidance and leadership as the Champion of the AfCFTA, Africa confounded critiques: 54 countries had signed the agreement and 28 countries had ratified it, making this the fastest ratification in the history of the African Union.
Mr. Mene applauded the leadership of the Chairperson of the Assembly – President Ramaphosa of South Africa for coordinating an effective public health, trade and debt relief response to the Covid-19 crisis.
GIK/APA