About 118 traders, business operators, farmers and security agencies in the Oti Region have benefited from a capacity building programme on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), to enable them to take advantage of the opportunity to market their products in the African market.
AfCFTA is the largest trading block in the world with a membership of 54 African countries with a population of 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP estimated at US$ 3.4 trillion.
The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer at the National AfCFTA Coordination Office, Mr Yussif Yakubu, who addressed the Oti Regional Conference and stakeholder engagement at Dambai said Ghana as the host country for the permanent secretariat of AfCFTA had a role to play to ensure successful implementation of AfCFTA.
Mr Yakubu said it was in view of this that regional conferences and stakeholder engagements were being held to educate the people to take advantage of the AfCFTA market to enable them to sell their products.
According to him, the education of the stakeholders would enable them to understand the products that could be sold in the African market and the benefits they could derive, and to fully participate in the African market for an improved living condition.
He explained that for Ghanaian traders and businesses to benefit from AfCFTA, called for standardisation, and access to financial support that was why the Ghana Standard Authority, the Ghana Exim Bank and the Food and Drugs Authority played a vital role in educating Ghanaians on AfCFTA to ensure success.
Mr Yakubu said his outfit would continue to educate Ghanaians on how to promote the development of new products with export potential for the African market and stimulate increased demand for “made-in-Ghana” goods and services on the continent, among others.
The Oti Regional Minister, Dr Joshua Makubu, said the government had created an enabling environment for effective Private Public Partnership (PPP) and called on the private sector to make use of AfCFTA to put made in Ghana goods on the African market for greater benefit.
According to the minister, the Oti Region had a comparative advantage in selling Ghanaian products such as the finest honey, fish and variety of agriculture products including yam because the region was dominantly an agriculture region, and farmers, traders and business operators would definitely increase their income.
The Regional Minister reminded the participants that to earn more income through AfCFTA, called for innovative practices particularly in the area of packaging of their products to meet international standards.
Dr Makubu stressed the need for the offices of the various agencies to be established in the Oti Region for the benefit of the people because the situation where such agencies were found outside the region would deny the people the full benefits that could be derived to improve trade and businesses.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, DAMBAI
