The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo Addo, has handed over the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area to the African Union Commission ahead of the Implementation of the Continental Trade Agreement.
Ghana won the bid to host the Secretariat of the AfCFTA in July 2019 during the 12th African Union Extraordinary Summit in Niamey, Niger where African leaders selected Ghana as the host country for the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Ghana was chosen from a shortlist of seven countries including Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar and Senegal.
The colourful handing over ceremony held in Accra at the new secretariat facility situated around the Ridge roundabout was attended by the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, former presidents of Ghana, Moussa Faki, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and the Secretary General of the AfCFTA among many other dignitaries.
Speaking on Eye on Port prior to the handing over of the AfCFTA Secretariat to the African Union Commission, some trade experts praised Ghana’s commitment to being the torch bearer in the trade development strategy the continent has embarked on.
Trade Practitioner and the Executive Director of the AfCFTA Policy Network, Louis Yaw Afful, praised the historic milestone Ghana has attained with the hosting of the Secretariat calling it the first major Pan African institution hosted in the country.
“Ghana bided for and won because Ghana showed that commitment by its infrastructure provision as well as meeting all the other criteria for hosting,” he remarked.
He highlighted that the policy guiding the setting up of the Secretariat in Ghana enables Ghanaians to enjoy a significant local content participation in employment and other benefits such as capacity building, intellectual exchange, academic development, etc.
“The secretarial benefits include for example, they’re a lot of regional meetings in the aviation industry, for instance. And we know there is a sixty to forty (60-40) arrangement Ethiopia has with Government which I’m not sure is finalized.
There’s going to that liberalization of institutions and partnerships, between private sector institutions, government and private sector, and government to government,” he cited.