On January 4, Ghana organized an event to commemorate its first export under The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The trade agreement was established to create a seamless environment for trade across the Africa Union’s member nations. Ghana has now set the pace for other countries to follow suit. It is one of three countries that has a suite of ready border and custom facilities that meet the AfCFTA’s trade terms. Egypt and South Africa are also ready to carry out commercially meaningful trade.
Ghana has an array of natural resources to offer in trade export ie. oil, gold, cocoa, timber, tuna, bauxite, aluminum, manganese ore, diamonds, horticultural products. Ghana’s main export partners include India, United Arab Emirates, China, Switzerland, Vietnam, Burkina Faso (information as at 2017) – to name but a few.
The African Continental Free Trade Agreement is expected to increase trade flows, boost investments across supply chains, and fuel industrialisation. However, some critics have questioned the AfCFTA’s, stating that they have rushed to jumpstart intra-Africa trade when some countries (such as Nigeria) have not shown they are ready for the challenge.
At a virtual briefing on Tuesday, Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the AfCFTA stated that the success or failure of the AfCFTA, will ultimately be judged by the impact it has on 1.2 billion Africans. One of the agreement’s ambitions is to double intra-African trade by 2035. If well implemented, it has the potential to lift 100 million Africans out of poverty.
Information extracted from: https://techcabal.com/2021/01/12/afcfta-ghana-first-export-nigeria/
