President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has called on the African Union (AU) to adopt the action compact of the maiden edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) which took place in Ghana last January.
Addressing the plenary at the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union on the theme, “The year of AfCFTA: Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation,” President Akufo-Addo said the APD, held under the theme, “The Africa Continental Free Trade Area: From Ambition to Action, Delivering Prosperity through Continental Trade,” is Ghana’s answer to the AfCFTA Secretariat’s invitation to member states to submit activities aimed at or contributing towards the implementation of the AfCFTA.
“As we are all aware, the AU theme for 2023 is ‘Acceleration of AfCFTA Implementation’. In furtherance of the objective, the AfCFTA Secretariat has invited member states of our great Union to submit activities aimed at or contributing towards the implementation of the theme. Ghana, seat of the AfCFTA Secretariat, attaches significant importance to the AfCFTA because of the potential benefit to the continent.
“Ghana, recognising a need for the acceleration of AfCFTA, partnered with AfCFTA Secretariat at the end of January this year to convene the Africa Prosperity Dialogues. The Dialogue brought together African business executives, senior policymakers, government ministers, women, and young entrepreneurs from a large number of African countries. The Dialogues was convened under the theme, AfCFTA: From Ambition to Action – Delivering Prosperity through Continental Trade,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“The Dialogues recognised that the AfCFTA Agreement would contribute significantly to sustainable economic growth, employment generation, the inflow of foreign direct investment, industrial development, better integration of the continent into the global economy, and prosperity for all Africans.
“It also discussed how the continent could overcome critical challenges impeding the promotion of intra-African trade such as inadequate infrastructure (transport, communications, energy, information technology), poor trade facilitation processes, access to finance, and free movement of persons. At the end of the Dialogues, a Compact, containing commitments made by governments, business executives, AfCFTA Secretariat, and partners, was reached,” the President added.
To this end, President Akufo-Addo sought permission from the AU Commission Chairperson for the action compact of the APN to be officially admitted into the records of the 36th AU Summit.
He also called for collaboration between the AU, AfCFTA, and organisers of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues for their future engagements.
“With permission of the Chair, I would like to enter the Compact of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues into the records of this Summit and hope that the Union will support Ghana to host the African Prosperity Dialogues annually, in partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat, collaborating with UN Economic Commission for Africa, United Nations Development Programme, African Development Bank, and the Africa Prosperity Network,” President Akufo-Addo said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri