President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced Ghana will by March 2020 kick start the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), in Accra.
President Akufo-Addo is optimistic the implementation of AfCFTA will help boost inter-regional trade among the African continent.
“We expect the secretariat to be up and running by March 2020 for trading to begin in the free trade area by July 2020,” he said confidently.
Speaking at the Second Edition of the Ghana Investment Opportunities Summit in the United Kingdom, President Akufo-Addo assured adequate measures are being put in place to make AfCFTA a success.
“We all know the success of AfCFTA will mean the era of low volumes of inter-regional trade that have defined the activities of the African economy will remain low,” he added.
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The President stressed the implementation of AfCFTA will signal the completion of the processes to the world’s largest trading area to exploit the abandoned wealth and resources of the continent for the benefit of the African people.
The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) selected Ghana as the host country for the Secretariat in July 2019 at the 12th AU Extraordinary Summit held in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
This will create opportunities for Ghana to become the main trade facilitation and investment hub in Africa which will be largest trading block in the world with a GDP at about US$3trillion and a population of 1.3 billion.
The AfCFTA is also expected to attract Foreign Direct Investments into Africa with strong regional and local content to help address foreign exchange constraints.