May 12, 2018//-Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is optimistic that the ratification of the Continental Free Trade Area agreement by the Ghanaian Parliament means that the era of low volumes of intra-continental trade that have defined the activities of the African economies will come to an end.
“Up till now, trade between African regions has remained low compared to other parts of the world. In 2000, intra-regional trade accounted for 10% of Africa’s total trade, and increased marginally to 11% in 2015. Trading amongst members of the European Union, for example, amounted to 70% in 2015,” the President said when he delivered the keynote address at the 2018 Oxford Africa Conference, at the University of Oxford.
He noted that with Africa’s population set to increase from 1.2 billion to 2 billion in 20 years time, an increase in intra-regional trade in Africa is the surest way to develop fruitful relations between African countries.
This market, he explained, will present immense opportunities to bring wealth and prosperity to the African people, with hard work, ingenuity, innovation and enterprise.
“It will mean a rapid increase in exchanges of our agricultural, financial, industrial, scientific and technological products, which would enhance dramatically our attainment of prosperity, and the prospects of employment for the broad masses of Africans, particularly our youth. Our economies would then be shaped not by the production and export of raw materials, but by the things we make,” he added.
African Eye Report
