Posted by William Osei Prempeh 384 0 comments

The Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC), in partnership with the Togolese Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Consumption, organized a one-day conference in Lome on Tuesday, the 22nd of August,2023. The joint conference was on the theme, Enhancing Trade Relation between Ghana and Togo: Issues and Challenges related to the Trade and the AfCFTA market.

The Chief Executive of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Ing Christian Nti, a keynote speaker at the conference, was accompanied by the Acting Director, Public Affairs Division of the Authority. His address centered on the theme, “Bridging Borders, Boosting Trade: The Transformative Power of Road Connectivity in AfCFTA’s Prosperity.”

He noted that, “If we have to improve trade volumes among African countries, especially using road transport, then we need to have quality Roads that will transport goods to the participating countries.” Ing. Nti added that, the elimination of trade barriers was critical to boosting intra-African trade and achieving the objectives of AfCFTA. “It will reduce the cost of trading across borders and ease cross-border movement of goods and the bulk of the AfCFTA benefit will be realized if state parties efficiently manage and eliminate all trade barriers.” He explained.

The Chief Executive of GHA, called for the investment of 80 percent of Africa’s resources on Road construction to facilitate the movement of goods and services and make trade cheaper than importing from other countries. He further stated that with good Roads, farmers would not incur post-harvest losses. A situation, he pointed out, could encourage more Ghanaians to venture into agriculture to produce more raw materials for export and domestic consumption.

Ghana’s Ambassador to Togo, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Mensah Demitia, in a statement, urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the location of the AfCFTA’s secretariat in Ghana to create opportunities that would inure the benefit to all Ghanaians. He also indicated that trade volumes between Ghana and Togo could rise significantly if the various barriers were removed for free flow of goods and services. This, he indicated, during a courtesy call paid on him by Ing. Christian Nti.

BACKGROUND

AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063. It is a high-ambition trade agreement with a comprehensive scope that includes critical areas of Africa’s economy such as digital trade and investment protection amongst others.

The conference, which attracted industry players from Ghana and Togo, was organized by Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFiC) to support the activities of AfCFTA’s secretariat in their bid to create a common market amongst participating countries in the continent and beyond.