The Former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto has advised the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area [AfCFTA] in Ghana to live up to expectations concerning the mandate of the organisation to create a single continental market.
In a speech delivered by the aspiring presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party at the ZimTrade Conference held at the Labadi Beach Hotel, he indicated that the government holds strongly onto the establishment of the headquarters of the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area in Ghana.
“We have been given a great opportunity to turn this dream into a reality, Your Excellency. It is a fact that one of our main challenges of converting mere rhetoric into real action is a lack of initiative.” Dr Afriyie Akoto noted
Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto said many beautiful ideas have died naturally simply because not enough people have taken the first step.
He commended the national Trade Development and Promotion Organization of the Republic of Zimbabwe for taking this initiative to come to the Ghanaian market.
“Let me urge all gathered here not to make this one-off event. There will be a need for more of such programmes and other similar events to bring business people together to promote trade between our two countries for the needed levels that benefit all of us.” He added
Speaking at the event, the AfCTA Secretary General, His Excellency Wamkele Keabetswe Mene said the mandate of the AfCFTA is to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion.
“AfCFTA is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade. In particular, it is to advance trade in value-added production across all service sectors of the African Economy.”
He added that AfCFTA would contribute to establishing regional value chains in Africa, enabling investment and job creation.
ZimTrade
ZimTrade is a Zimbabwe’s national trade development and promotion organisation. The organisation inspires to contribute to Zimbabwe’s growth and prosperity through developing and catalysing viable and sustainable exports.
