President Akufo-Addo delivering a speech at the Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation
GHANA’s PRODUCTION and export of raw materials, including cocoa beans, will soon be a thing of the past.
President Akufo-Addo, who disclosed this, said that was the best way government could help place Ghana at the high end of the value chain in the global market place, and create jobs for the teeming Ghanaian masses.
He was speaking on Friday at the Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation, in Bern, Switzerland, as part of a two-day state visit to the country, the first in 60 years by a Head of State from sub-Saharan Africa.
According to him, Ghana intends to process more and more of its cocoa, with the aim of producing more chocolate, “because we believe there can be no future prosperity for the Ghanaian people, in the short, medium or long term if we continue to maintain economic structures that are dependent on the production and export of raw materials.”
He spoke about government’s resolve “to add value to our raw materials, industrialize and enhance agricultural productivity.” While serving notice to Swiss investors of the growing business-friendly climate in Ghana, the President urged them to take advantage of Ghana’s unique position as host of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to set-up joint venture enterprises in our country, and, thereby, access this huge market that the free trade area presented.
Commenting on his administration’s landmark achievements since it assumed power, he noted, “We have succeeded, over the last three years, in ensuring that all our macroeconomic indices are pointing in the right direction; cut our fiscal deficit; introduced a monetary policy that was stabilising the currency and reducing significantly the cost of borrowing; and have introduced a raft of tax cuts which are bringing relief to and encouraging businesses.”
President Akufo-Addo said such achievements had seen Ghana recording an annual GDP average growth rate of seven per cent since 2017, making it consistently one of the world’s fastest growing economies during the period.
“We have one of the most business-friendly economies in Africa, evidenced in our status as the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in West Africa,” the President said.
Additionally, President Akufo-Addo told Members of the Federal Council that Ghana has also been selected to host the secretariat of the AfCFTA, a market of some 1.2 billion people, with a combined GDP of three trillion dollars.
Touching on plans to make Ghana the hub of trade in Africa, he reassured Members of the Federal Assembly that Ghana was fully committed to a democratic present and future, where respect for individual liberties and human rights, the rule of law and the principles of democratic accountability were at the core of our body politic.
“Ghana stands shoulder to shoulder with Switzerland in our joint determination to promote and protect human rights across the globe,” he added.
The President highlighted, “I am hopeful that as we shape the future of Ghana and position Ghanaian enterprises to compete effectively on the world stage, we have friends such as the Swiss Confederation to support us in this objective. We are determined in Ghana to ensure that succeeding generations of Ghanaians do not become victims or pawns of the international economic order, but her beneficiaries.”
Furthermore, he described the relations between Ghana and Switzerland as excellent, particularly the work done by the Basel missionaries, who arrived in the then Gold Coast to undertake evangelical work.
BY Samuel Boadi