Bolgatanga: Business Community enlighted on AfCFTA agreement.

The business community in Ghana stands tall amongst its peers as the country has been uniquely positioned to become the commercial capital of Africa with market share of 1.3 billion people to trade within Africa under qa uota free with preferential tariffs.

In an agreement signed by all 55 African countries under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in 2018 by the African Union, Ghana was chosen to host its secretariat.

This was made known at the sensitization forum by a team from the National AfCFTA Coordinating Office to enlighten the business community about the existing opportunities under agreement in Bolgatanga.

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) under the National AfCFTA Policy Framework and Action Plan, it had provided immense opportunities for industrialization and development of regional value or supply chain under Ghana’s Ten-point Industrial Transformation Agenda.

This included the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS), the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development Initiative, and the establishment of Strategic and Industrial Parks across the country.

Per the policy framework, some of the objectives for Ghana's participation in the AfCFTA would be to provide market access opportunities to both existing and new markets for Ghanaian goods and services on the continent, promote the development of new products with export potentials for the African market and also stimulate increased demand for "Made in Ghana" goods and services on the continent.

The rest were to provide timely and accurate information on market trends for Ghanaian business, promote the development of innovative financial value addition of Ghanaian goods for export to the rest of Africa and move the economy up to the value chain.

In his welcome address, the Upper East Regional Minister, Hon Stephen Yakubu, indicated that Ghana as the host country for the AfCFTA Secretariat, had a critical role to play in the successful implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement.

He said the government had put up several trade infrastructure programs like the construction and rehabilitation of the central railway which when completed would link Kumasi to Paga, the port expansion, the Inland port at Boankra,  and the expansion of the aviation terminals across the country.

“I, therefore, wish to use this opportunity to entreat our business communities to take advantage of these interventions to further boost their businesses for the promotion of African trade,” he said.

Hon. Yakubu noted that with the Upper East Region as the gateway to the Sahel and Landlocked countries, the development of the Bolgatanga Airport would be a big boost to AfCFTA.