Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene is urging Africa Businessmen to use the challenges confronting them as an opportunity to develop the continent.
The AfCFTA Secretary-General who was speaking at the maiden Africa Prosperity Dialogues at the Safari Valley Resort in Adukrom in the Okere District of the Eastern Region said the continent’s development is long overdue and this is the time for the continent to fast-track its development.
Mene explained that “It is an honour for us to be part of this dialogue because we have an opportunity as Africans a positive narrative about the challenges that we confront.
“Indeed, I believe that Africa’s challenges are Africa’s opportunities,” he added.
Gabby’s Statement
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Founder and Chairman of Africa Prosperity Network (APN), in his address said it’s necessary, a unique forum for the private sector in Africa to join forces to assert a leading voice and play our leadership role on how best and how fast we can build and drive a vibrant, single market in Africa and for the shared prosperity of Africa’s nearly 1.4 billion citizens.
He said “Next month, Africa’s political leaders will once again meet in Addis Ababa, to talk about our common destiny. Our voices here in Adukrom should resonate in Ethiopia. This year, incidentally, marks the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity, which was set up to promote the unity and solidarity of the African States.
“It has since 2002 been succeeded by the African Union (AU). The AU 2018 adopted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has the all-important goal of turning Africa into the world’s largest single market. This, we believe, is the biggest promise this century for the prosperity of Africa and the African. It is potentially, the world’s most exciting economic project this century. And, this is what brings us here and now. How do we get the private sector to be deliberately and actively engaged in delivering the great ambition that AfCFTA represents? How do we, as Africa’s private sector, make the fulfillment of this promise our project?”.
He added that “AfCFTA, which is headquartered in Accra, Ghana, promises economic integration. Its success is our success. If it works, it will boost significantly trade and investments, provide jobs and increase prosperity across the continent, like never before. But, for it to work and work for us, the workings of the AfCFTA must be seen and felt from this onset to be for the people of Africa. For our collective ownership and shared benefit. It must be owned by businesses in Africa”.
“The combined voices of Africa’s businesses, big and small, must be heard and felt. The aggregate value of enterprises and industries across Africa must be networked, coordinated, and impactfully leveraged. That is why, we of the Africa Prosperity Network, are pleased to have created this dedicated platform, the Africa Prosperity Dialogues, as an annual retreat where business leaders, thought leaders, trade associations, development organizations, young and women entrepreneurs, etc., will sit together, think together, plan together, and work together, with urgency, to intensify the efforts towards achieving the goals of AfCFTA. The next ten years will determine whether the promise fails or succeeds”.
“This year’s gathering is the first of many; the first of such many destiny-shaping retreats that we plan to hold. Your presence here today cannot be at all over-emphasized. And, we know that with your commitment from this day on, we can build a strong network of Pan-African partnerships to make this annual retreat a most powerful, actionable platform of choice for building the one, prosperous Africa we want and know we can get done,” he added.
The maiden series of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues kicked off on Thursday, 26th January, ending on Saturday, 28th January.
The serial event, also dubbed the Kwahu Summit, involved captains of industry, entrepreneurs, economists, bankers, and other business leaders in Africa taking part in three days of discussion about what needs to be done next to expand trade and wealth creation across the continent.
The Africa Prosperity Dialogues is a strategic platform where movers and shakers in the African economy will elevate the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) from ambition to real action.
-BY Daniel Bampoe