President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has made a case for Ghana to host the secretariat of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA).
The President, in a meeting with officials from the Africa Union (AU) at the Jubilee House in Accra yesterday, said Ghana had the facilities to host the secretariat of the continental trade market.
The CFTA agreement, which was brokered by the AU last year, requires members to remove up to 90
The CFTA, if ratified by all parties involved, will be the largest in the world in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
President Akufo-Addo told the AU delegation that Ghana’s third president under the Fourth Republic, Prof. J.E.A Mills, was one of the early advocates of the free trade area concept.
That, he said, coupled with Ghana’s active involvement in the activities of the union in the past decades, made the country an ideal
While expressing Ghana’s commitment towards making the CFTA a reality, he said the agreement, when fully ratified by all members, would be critical to the development of the continent.
President Akufo-Addo believes that scaling up regional and continental trade will help improve the welfare of citizens on the continent.
The leader of the delegation, Rosette Nyirinkindi Katungye, said her team was assessing a number of countries that had offered to host the CFTA and indicated that Ghana was among the countries that offered to host the secretariat.
She said the selection of a host would be carefully chosen because the country would have a significant impact on the continent by facilitating efforts to open up borders for intra-Africa trade.
“This secretariat would be a gateway in making sure that we fulfill the aspirations and everything that we want to do under the CFTA,” she said.
BY YAW KYEI
