Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has charged African countries to invest in smart infrastructure across the continent as a means to expedite trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area, ( AfCFTA).
The Vice President was speaking at the maiden edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues dubbed “Kwahu Summit” 2023, in the Eastern Region, and noted that there is a need to invest in efficient transport and communication system needed for trade among African countries.
“There is the need for smart investment in critical infrastructure. As a continent, we need to produce and trade our way out of poverty and underdevelopment, and we cannot do that without investing in smart infrastructure across the continent.
“Whiles the last decades have seen some positive investments, there is the need for additional resources to finance the arteries for trade, which include the physical infrastructure such as roads, rail and energy, digital infrastructure such as data centres to facilitate the digital transformation and financial infrastructure to allow for integration of our financial markets.
Such investments, he continued, will ensure that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) succeeds.
“These investments will be critical to delivering the success of the AfCFTA,” he said.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the largest free trade area in the world, unites the 55 nations that make up the African Union (AU) and eight RECs to form a single market for the continent. The objective is to facilitate the unrestricted movement of products and services throughout the continent and strengthen Africa’s position as a trading power in the world economy.
