President Akufo-Addo speaking at the function yesterday
President Akufo-Addo has been selling Ghana and by extension, Africa’s potentials to the 50 Governors of the United States of America, saying that they should not ignore the continent.
“We are rich in natural resources, and in possession of nearly 30 percent of the earth’s remaining mineral resources. We have a vibrant young population, and though we still have important security challenges, we are more at peace than before,” the president told a gathering of the US governors in Washington DC on Sunday.
Addressing the National Governors’ Association (NGA) at its Winter meeting as Guest Speaker – the first by an African leader in history – President Akufo-Addo touted Africa’s credentials as the place to do business, in view of recent decisions taken by the African Union (AU) leaders.
With the historic decision of the AU to bring into existence on 21st March, 2018 the Continental Free Trade Area, the agenda of regional integration, which will establish a market of some 2 billion people in 20 years, the president said that decision presents immense opportunities to bring prosperity to Africa with hard work, enterprise and creativity.
“This is the time to look at Africa,” he stated, noting, “This can be Africa’s century.”
He said there should be paradigm shift in the way the continent does things, particularly in the structure of its economies, which are dependent on the production and export of raw materials.
“These economies cannot produce wealth and prosperity for the masses on the continent. It, therefore, drives the determination to seek a much better standard of living out of Africa, thereby fuelling the refugee crises and the numerous counts of illegal migration,” he maintained.
The large number of migrants into the United States from Ireland and Italy in the 19th century, the president noted, has completely subsided because the economies of the two countries are working properly.
President Akufo-Addo stated, “The only way to ensuring prosperity in Africa and jobs for our young populations is through value addition activities, in a transformed and diversified, modern economy, in which we take full advantage of the digital revolution.”
Ghana, he said, is leading in that direction. “In other words, the industrial development of our continent – and we are determined to ensure the realisation of this – so that our young people can stay and devote their great energies to the building of a great Africa.”
He was confident that it is not only Asians who can engineer, in a generation, their transition from poverty to prosperity.
“We are determined to do that in our generation in Ghana, on the continent, and ensure that succeeding generations will be neither victims nor pawns of the global order,” he added.
This, President Akufo-Addo indicated, would serve as the impetus for re-shaping the continent and charting a new path of growth and development in freedom, which will lift the long suffering African masses out of poverty into the realms of prosperity and dignified existence.
New Partnership
President Akufo-Addo called for a new partnership between Ghana and the United States of America “characterised by a substantial increase in trade and investment cooperation.”
According to the president, “This is the way to develop healthy relations between our two countries, and thereby strengthen our economies and raise the living standards of our two peoples.”
He expressed the commitment of his government and the people of Ghana in standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in the promotion of human rights on the African continent and across the globe, as well as the fight against terrorism.
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in the rejection of terrorism as a legitimate means of resolving political issues. We appreciate the courageous commitment and the lead role being played in the fight against terrorism by the United States in several parts of the world, including the Sahel Region of West Africa,” the Ghanaian leader indicated.
He continued, “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States in attempting to develop our economies to provide opportunities for its citizens to fulfil their aspirations, especially the youth. We stand ready to renew and deepen our relations with the United States of America for the prosperity and progress of our two peoples.”
The NGA meeting is chaired by Brian Sandoval, Governor of the State of Nevada.
From Fortune Alimi, Washington DC