Gov’t to hold national conference on implementation of AfCFTA agreement

Government will hold a two-day national conference in Accra, from tomorrow, Tuesday, October 20 to October 21 2020 on the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.

The national conference is being organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and the National AfCFTA Coordination Office, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA).

A statement issued in Accra by the Ministry of Trade and Industry said the theme of the conference is “Empowering Ghanaian Businesses to harness the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement under the framework of the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS)”

The statement said “the National Conference will bring together relevant stakeholders from the private and public sectors in Ghana to discuss Government of Ghana’s export development interventions aimed at empowering the private sector to harness the benefits of the AfCFTA”.

Ghana’s commitment

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to open the 2-day conference, and he will use the opportunity to articulate Government’s commitment to the AfCFTA and to the empowerment of the private sector to boost Ghana’s trade with Continental Africa, as trading is scheduled to start on January 1, 2021.

Participants will include CEOs in the business community, senior policymakers, parliamentarians, representatives from academia and civil society organisations, development partners and the media.

The first National Conference on AfCFTA was organised by Government in August 2019.