The African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA in a bid to harness contributions from industry players on the implementation of the AfCTA, has organized an engagement session for stakeholders in the Western Region.
The event was spearheaded by the National Coordination Office of AfCFTA of the Western Region.
The engagement sought to enable all stakeholders to gain a better understanding of each other’s functions and develop a framework for collaboration to ensure that Ghanaian businesses participating in AfCFTA are positioned to harness the benefits of the Free Trade Area.
The National Coordinator at the AfCFTA, Dr Fareed Arthur said the conference forms part of a series of conferences being carried out in all 16 regions of the country.
He gave an explanation that in order for the country to exploit the benefit of the agreement, there is a need to understand the unique resource, and the capacity of all 16 regions in order to take advantage of the open market offered under the agreement.
He further revealed that the agreement has brought 55 countries under the African Union, AU and eight regional communities together with the mandate of creating a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of about 3.4 trillion dollars.
Mr Arthur added that it is imperative for regions to take advantage of the opportunity offered.
Chief Director of the Western Regional Coordinating Council, Frederick Agyemang said the region is poised to take advantage of the AfCFTA.
According to him, the region has a strong base when it comes to natural resources including agriculture, which places the region at a higher advantage to benefit from the agreement.
The Mayor of Sekond -Takoradi, Mr Abdul Mumin Issah, called for a partnership between the private and the public sector to bring prosperity to the region, country, and continent as a whole.
The conference brought together stakeholders including the Ghana Union of Traders Association, GUTA, Customs, Takoradi Technical University, TTU, Association of Ghana Industries, AGI, Ghana Standard Authority, and GSA amongst others to talk about their readiness and support for the implementation of the AfCFTA.
