Secretary General of the AfCTA, Wamkele Mene
The Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, has advised that diaspora engagements should be extended beyond tourism. He also wants Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and business partnerships to be targeted
He explained that this would help investors to focus on untapped but potentially high-yielding economic sectors of the economy.
Speaking at the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre’s Diaspora Investment Summit, Mr Mene said that the Ghanaian diaspora has a significant role to play in the government’s developmental effort and in building a Ghana Beyond Aid.
He noted that the Ghanaian diaspora community needs to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the AfCFTA, by harnessing the trade and investment engagements within the country.
“This will enable them take advantage of the continental market size of more than one billion people with an aggregated gross domestic product of $3.4 trillion created by the Agreement,” he said.
Suggestions
The Secretary General mentioned that efforts to attract the diaspora could focus on three key economic areas: investments, knowledge and skills and trade facilitation.
He added that in terms of investments, mechanisms could be put in place to tap the diaspora as preferred foreign direct investors in continental development projects.
“From the perspective of knowledge and skills, the diaspora could provide long-and short-term human capital support in strategic sectors driving Africa’s economic growth. Human capital support can begin with knowledge transfer from the diaspora back to the home country through collaboration, mentoring and training,” he said.
“Regarding the trade access and facilitation dimension, the diaspora could serve as market entry facilitators, importers, distributors and co-investors for African export initiatives targeting global markets,” Mr Mene added.
Enticement
He added that the continent has the fastest growing economies and is the youngest globally noting that the continent’s youth dividend makes it attractive as a potential global manufacturing base.
“The past decade saw FDI flow into areas such as telecommunications, consumer products, and industrials, but mobile penetration, COVID-19 dynamics, and growing energy demand are creating opportunities in new sectors including the following: infrastructure, agro-processing, financial technology (FINTEC), energy, and healthcare,” Mr Mene said.
The new normal
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, also noted that at the heart of her ministry is the Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit because of its stated objectives of fostering economic partnerships with the diaspora and positioning Ghana as the country of choice for doing business.
In her view, the theme of the event, “The New Normal, Leveraging Diaspora Investments to Build Back Better”, speaks of a willingness and a commitment to build back and better position Ghana than where it was before the pandemic.
“This does not mean we are looking at only big corporates or huge financial investments at a go, but every small business, entrepreneur and skill counts,” she added.
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