A one day regional conference on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement and the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) has been held in Damongo.
The conference was organized by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and the National AfCFTA Coordinating office.
The conference in the Savannah regional capital brought together relevant stakeholders from the private and public sectors to discuss government’s export development interventions aimed at empowering the private sector to harness the benefits of the AfCFTA.
Resource persons from the Trade Ministry, GEPA and the National AfCFTA Coordinating office used the opportunity to articulate government’s commitment to the AfCFTA, the implementation of the NEDS and the empowerment of the private sector to boost Ghana’s trade within Africa.
In a speech read on behalf of the Minister for Trade and Industry by the Ministry’s advisor for Industrial Parks and Economic Zones, Dr. John Hawkins Asiedu, Alan Kyerematen said government has established key national institutional structures to oversee the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement including the AfCFTA inter-ministerial facilitation committee, national steering committee among others.
For his part, the Deputy CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Albert Kassim Diwura, said the Authority plans to make Ghana rake in US$25.3 billion in non-traditional export revenues by the year 2029.
This, he said, will be achieved by the implementation of a new National Export Development Strategy which has been aligned to government’s industrialization agenda over the next ten years.
He said the plan will boost Ghana’s export value from the current US$2.9 billion to US$25.3 billion.
The regional conferences are being organized to bring the opportunities provided by the AfCFTA and NEDS to the doorsteps of the people of Ghana, and particularly the business community nationwide do Ghana can maximize opportunities to increase trade within Africa.
