Stakeholders in the trade and industry sector are exploring ways by which the business community can connect to bigger players across the continent to expand through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
For this reason, the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) has introduced the Kwahu Summit to allow for African heads of state and other business leaders to come up with an inclusive implementation strategy for the AfCFTA.
The establishment of the continent-wide pact presents opportunities to boost intra-African trade, strengthen the complementarities of production and exports, create employment, and limit the impact of commodity price volatility on participants.
The Kwahu Summit on Africa’s prosperity will focus on harmonizing continental trade and harnessing the opportunities that the AfCFTA presents for deepening intra-African trade. Crucially, the focus on this year’s Summit is a response to the impacts of recent geopolitical events on African economies.
Speaking to Citi Business News on the sidelines of a cocktail event to introduce the summit to participants, the Executive Secretary of the Africa Prosperity Network, Hannah Awuku spoke about how businesses in Ghana can stand to benefit from the summit.
“We know the AU will be meeting to discuss further ways to take the AfCFTA implementation strategy forward and so we intend to be at the centre of this to make sure that the business community has a role to play. Because if you’re implementing a trade policy and the business community is not involved, it’s going to be difficult because countries do not trade directly. So we intend to become a bridge between the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Heads of State making the policies so the business community can benefit,” she noted.
Dr. Eugene Owusu, the Executive Director of the Africa Prosperity Network and coordinator of the Kwahu Summit expressed optimism that the event will bridge all the gaps that have come up in the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“The mechanisms are now being put in place and the greatest manifestation of that is the Secretariat which is now driving action. But it cannot end with just the brick and mortar of the Secretariat. It has to be about dealing with the policy constraints that mitigate against deepening trade, dealing with the logistical constraints that we need to resolve to be able to deepen trade and the resources that we have to align behind this. That is what the Kwahu Summit is seeking to do; to catalyze and bring meaning to the whole agreement.”
The maiden edition of the annual Kwahu Summit on Africa’s prosperity is in collaboration with the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana, the AfCFTA Secretariat, and the Ghana Investment Promotion Center.
It will take place from 28th to 29th of October 2022 at the Rock City Hotel under the theme, ‘AfCFTA: From ambition to action, delivering prosperity through continental trade’.
