APA – Accra (Ghana)
President Akufo-Addo’s call on global leaders to acknowledge the interconnectedness of nations, emphasizing shared destinies during his address at the annual Africa Day event held in Vienna, Austria, on January 30, 2024 is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana has urged global leaders to acknowledge the interconnectedness of nations, emphasizing shared destinies during his address at the annual Africa Day event held in Vienna, Austria, on January 30, 2024.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the importance of a well-developed and prosperous Africa, not only benefiting the continent itself but also contributing positively to other regions, particularly Europe. He emphasized the significance of fair and mutually beneficial trade systems, citing historical examples that demonstrated the prosperity derived from equitable partnerships.
In his speech, President Akufo-Addo underlined the urgent need for a shift from Africa’s historical dependence on raw material production and export. He noted that, despite possessing thirty percent of the earth’s remaining mineral resources and two-thirds of arable land, Africa must move away from being solely a supplier of raw materials.
“Africa does not want to be a scar on anybody’s conscience… She no longer wants to be the default place to go to find the footage to illustrate famine stories,” President Akufo-Addo asserted, signaling Africa’s desire to break free from outdated narratives.
Highlighting the role of education and skills development in economic progress, the President emphasized the need for investment in these areas to foster entrepreneurship and empower the youth. He advocated for a structural transformation of African economies, shifting from raw material dependence to value-added, industrialized economies.
President Akufo-Addo called for increased investment and trade between Africa and Europe, with a focus on elevating African economies to trade at the high end of the global value chain. Describing Ghana as a haven of peace, security, and stability, he invited international collaboration for mutual prosperity.
The newspaper says that the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, has urged African governments, businesses and individuals to domesticate the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) protocols and institutionalise them in their individual countries.
This, he explained, was one of the surest ways to facilitate intra-Africa trade, create employment for the teeming youth, expand businesses and generate prosperity for the people of the continent.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of the African Prosperity Dialogue at Aburi, Prof. Oramah said the AfCFTA secretariat, council of ministers and the African Union leadership have done most of things that need to be done.
He said the AfCFTA secretariat and the summit of African union have also approved most of the protocols required for smooth implementation and what was required was for African businesses, governments and individuals to domesticate the AfCFTA protocols and institutionalise them in their individual countries.
He called for the training of business people; they must be made aware and for them to see intra-African trade as a viable business opportunity.
He announced that the bank was expanding lending into intra African trade and that in the past five years it had learnt about 40 billion dollars making intra African trade share of the bank’s portfolio about 30 per cent, noting that “We have proven that it can be safe and be profitable”.
Prof. Oramah said together with AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU Commission, they were working on other instruments such as Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PPAPS) which currently has 12 central banks that have signed on, five commercial banks ten switches, and 100 commercial banks in the pipeline to be connected.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on fellow heads of state and the global business community to focus on unlocking the $450 billion that the continent stands to accrue under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (Af¬CFTA) by 2035.
He explained that a one per cent increase in Africa’s share of global trade from the current two per cent to three per cent could generate some $70 billion of additional income per annum for the continent.
Speaking at this year’s edition of the Africa-Italy Summit in Rome, Italy on Monday, President Akufo-Addo said a key step to achieving this was for all within the global community to support the call for a new investment approach that prioritised mutually reinforcing partnerships between the private sectors across advanced economies and the economies of Africa.
He noted that in line with the urgency to take the necessary steps towards resiliency as a continent, it is important to avoid “tax-dodging,” which was the illegitimate commercial transactions by multinationals, which accounted for 60 per cent of the US$88 billion of illicit financial flows annually from the continent, and other relationships which inhibit Africa’s development.
President Akufo-Addo said with the right reforms and interventions, the continent could also unlock some $550 billion of investment locked up due to the fact that more than 80 per cent of infrastructural projects on the continent failed at the feasibility and business planning phase.
“Before 2020, Africa was attracting increasing foreign direct investment (FDI), although overall FDI inflows remained much lower than in other world regions. Between 2000 and 2019, FDI flows to Africa increased fourfold, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.5 per cent. Our biggest challenge is not a scarcity of financing, but a confluence of poor governance, speculative risk perception, and a defective environment for crowding in investors,” he stressed.
The newspaper says that Patricia Obo-Nai, the CEO of Telecel Ghana, has called on African governments, telecommunication companies, and financial service providers to remove obstacles that are impeding progress towards a cash-lite society and improved cross-border transactions.
Speaking at the Africa Prosperity Dialogue 2024 at Aburi, she emphasised that joint ownership was required among regulatory bodies in Africa, telcos, banks and fintechs to make cross border mobile wallet interoperability a reality.
Her appeal resonated with the conversations that took place at the two-day summit, which focused on “Developing prosperity in Africa: producing, adding value, and trading,” and aimed at addressing ongoing trade obstacles in the African market.
“This prompts us to delve deeper into the realm of financial technology solutions, a consideration we have actively explored at Telecel. Our objective is to mitigate fees and costs for our consumers, as we navigate through this economic landscape, fostering greater financial inclusion and accessibility for a broader segment of the population,” she added.
She shared the story of a ‘Kayayei’ from another African nation working in Ghana, high¬lighting challenges in cross-border remittance and cumbersome cash transactions. She stressed the need to extend mobile money benefits globally, commending Ghana’s progress in mobile finance.
Patricia also addressed data security and privacy concerns, urging regulatory prioritisation.
GIK/APA