Mrs Beatrice Chaytor
African countries have been charged to urgently domesticate the provisions of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) treaty to fast-track the continent’s economic progress.
Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, Mr. Wamkele Mene, made the call recently in Accra at the maiden edition of the Ghana Trade Policy Enlightenment Summit for Foreigners (GaTPES) 2022.
GaTPES 2022, which was held under the theme, “Helping foreign businesses to better navigate the trade policy landscape”, was organised by the Standard Travel and Tour Company (STT).
It had the endorsements of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Registrar General’s Department (RGD), Lands Commission, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Office of the Speaker of Parliament and the AfCFTA headquarters, and the support of Fine-Prints Limited, Eddu Motors and the Ezeigbo Ghana Foundation, among others.
Mr. Mene urged state-parties to the AfCFTA agreement to use its provisions to build their economies and transform lives.
“The agreement, which is the treaty, needs to be translated into laws; and those laws are then used by the business person in order to do business, and to put money in the pockets of the business person, and to put money in the economy of the country at large,” Mene stated.
Mr. Mene was represented by Mrs. Beatrice Chaytor, head of trade in services division at the AfCFTA headquarters.
Against the backdrop of sporadic bouts of local-foreign business tensions in Ghana’s business environment which tend to give Ghana a bad international image, the event, which will hold annually, brought together under one roof state agencies responsible for implementing Ghana’s trade policy and laws as well as members of the foreign business community in the country to foster better understanding, to help repair the damage done to Ghana’s image; and, to help vitiate Ghana’s present economic difficulties that has necessitated the country’s recent return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The event, according to the organisers, aims to educate the non-Ghanaian business community in Ghana on Ghana’s trade policies and trade laws; raise foreigners’ awareness of relevant provisions of Ghana’s trade laws that govern foreigners’ participation in the country’s economy among others.
Specific presentations were made by Mrs. Jemimah Oware, Registrar-General of the Registrar-General’s Department; Mr. Victor Akogo, Deputy Commissioner-General and Head of Compliance of the Ghana Revenue Authority; Dr. Benjamin Armah Quaye, Head of the Special Projects Unit at the Lands Commission, Ms. Evelyn Nyarko of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, among others.
Diplomats who participated at the event include the ambassadors of Suriname, Ms. Fidelia Graand-Galon; Colombia; Namibia, Ms. Evilene Hansen, as well as the Trade Secretary of the Iranian Embassy in Ghana, Mr. Hussain Barharmi.
Foreign communities that attended the event include the Indian, Lebanese, Chinese, and Nigerian communities, among other segments of the international community in Ghana.
Other dignitaries also present were Eze (Dr.) Chuks Jude Ihenetu, the Ezeigbo, or king of Igbos (of Nigeria) in Ghana, among other cultural leaders.