Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has urged Chinese investors to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
He encouraged Chinese investors to take this decisive step in a symposium organised by the Embassy of Ghana, China to climax the sixtieth (60th) anniversary celebrations of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ghana and China.
According to Dr. Bawumia, the trade value between Ghana and China in 2019 was about $ 7.5 billion. And as China is Ghana’s largest trading partner, there is the need for them [China] to take advantage of AfCFTA headquartered in Ghana.
“China is currently the largest investor in Ghana by the number of registered projects. It is also Ghana’s largest trading partner with a total value of trade reaching a record $ 7.5 billion in 2019. The government of Ghana has further deepened its economic cooperation with China by joining the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank initiative.
It is important to explore new areas of cooperation in the years ahead for at least two reasons, first, to continue accelerating the economic growth of Ghana and also to replicate the spectacular economic success of China in the last 40 years.
To achieve this, Ghana is leveraging its status as host to the Secretariat of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. Chinese investors are therefore urged to take advantage of this development and capitalize on the conducive business environment to access the continental market,” Bawumia said in the symposium.
Dr Bawumia also said AfCFTA will position and create an opportunity for the country [Ghana]. “The African Continental Free Trade Area secretariat has positioned Ghana to become a major trading hub of the West African sub-region. The AfCFTA will also present new economic opportunities for Ghana and it could transform our financial, manufacturing and technological sectors by connecting Ghana to new markets across the globe.”
The AfCFTA is a free trade area which, as of 2018, included 28 countries. It was created by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union nations. The free-trade area is the largest in the world in terms of the number of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization.
Accra, Ghana serves as the Secretariat of AFCFTA and was commissioned and handed over to the AU by the President of Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo on August 18, 2020.
Delivering a speech at the ceremony, President Akufo-Addo stated that Ghana has discharged all her obligations towards the establishment and the setting up of the office, following the selection of Ghana, in 2019, by the AU Assembly to host the AfCFTA Secretariat.
“We are today, handing over a fully furnished and befitting office space, in a secured and easily accessible location within the business centre of Accra as the Permanent Secretariat of the AfCFTA. We have provided also an appropriate, furnished residential accommodation as the official residence of the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA,” he said.
