[ 2021-03-12 ]

AfCFTA expected to significantly promote peace and security
Mr Anthony Baafi Nyame, a Senior Technical Advisor
at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, says the
African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is
expected to significantly promote peace and
security through regional integration and
cooperation.

He said the efficient and effective implementation
of the AfCFTA would boost intra-African trade,
stimulate investment and innovation, foster
structural transformation, improve food security,
enhance economic growth and export
diversification, and above all, provide the fresh
impetus and dynamism to economic integration in
Africa.

Mr Baafi was speaking at the maiden Kofi Annan
International Peacekeeping Training Centre
(KAIPTC), the Association of Ghana Industries
(AGI) Dialogue Series in Accra.

The dialogue series with support from the Federal
Government of Germany and the Government of Norway
was on the theme, “The AfCFTA and the Private
Sector: Towards Effective Development and
Sustainable Peace.”

The event held virtually, sought to foster a
strategic partnership between the KAIPTC and the
private sector to explore opportunities for joint
initiatives in the field of governance, peace,
security and development.

Topics discussed include the impact of AfCFTA on
the private sector and the overall quest for
long-term peace and development.

The dialogue provided the opportunity for
participants to examine the prospective impact of
the AfCFTA on the private sector in Ghana as well
as ways to ensure effective dispute resolution and
cohesion within states and in the business
community towards sustainable peace and
development.

It also focused on opportunities AfCFTA provides
for private sector growth in Ghana as well as the
security risks that could threaten the potential
success of the AfCFTA.

He said the economic integration of Africa would
lay a strong foundation to achieve the African
Union Blueprint and Masterplan "Agenda 2063 - The
Africa we want."

Mr Baafi said ensuing that Africa was a peaceful
and secure continent was at the heart of
Aspiration 4 of Agenda 2063 through the use of
mechanisms that promoted a dialogue centred
approach to conflict prevention and resolution.

“The AfCFTA is the key to African businesses
recovering from the adverse effects of the
COVID-19 Pandemic and seeking to leverage new
opportunities in new markets,” he added.

Mr Baafi said the benefits of AfCFTA in achieving
the vision of integrating Africa's economy would
not come automatically, hence the need to harness
the benefits of the Agreement by the AU Member
States, a Programme of Action to Boost
Intra-African Trade, endorsed by AU Heads of State
in 2012.

He said the Government had developed a National
Action Plan for Boosting Intra African Trade and a
new National Export Development Strategy to
complement the on-going Industrial Transformation
Agenda to enhance Ghana's participation in
intra-African trade under the AfCFTA.

Mr Hans-Helge Sander, Deputy Ambassador of Germany
to Ghana, said Germany was a strong supporter of
AfCFTA and lent its support to Africa's project of
creating a single continental market for goods and
services.

He said Germany was supporting the implementation
of AfCFTA at the Secretariat level as well as at
AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Mr Sander said the country recognized specifically
the integral role of the private sector in
boosting intra-African trade towards sustainable
development on the continent.

He said it also acknowledged the relevance of the
private sector in addressing the structural causes
of insecurities.

“There is no doubt that economic development has
a key role in addressing poverty, lack of jobs and
underdevelopment, which, if left unchecked, can be
a driver for mass grievances and instability,”
he added.

Mr Sander said there was significant potential for
a stronger partnership between peace-building
institutions and private sector agents.

He said the private sector investments needed
stable and non-violent societies to unfold their
full potential.

Mr Silver Ojakol, the Chief of State of the AfCFTA
Secretariat, said the implementation of AfCFTA was
a private sector avenue and not a government
avenue.

He said the implementation was not only a trade
agreement but also a developmental instrument for
the African Continent.

“We at the AfCFTA Secretariat, for the
implementation, we look at customs reforms,
completion of negotiations on rules of origin,
harmonization of standards, financial instruments
to address difficult of the private sector,” he
added, and said they were developing the Pan
Africa and Settlement System for the
implementation AfCFTA.

Source - GNA

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