AU to harmonise economic policies
The African Union (AU) has been urged to work towards the harmonisation of economic policies, the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and the institution of mechanisms to support weaker countries in Africa.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, who made the appeal, said some African countries might not be able to bear the consequential loss of critical revenues that might result from the opening up of their markets.
She made the appeal in a keynote address delivered on her behalf by Ambassador Leslie Kojo Christian, the Chief Director of the Ministry, at the 9th Ghana-Africa Business Awards held recently as part of the celebration of the African Union (AU) Day in Ghana which fell on May 25, 2015.
She entreated African countries to act in concert to underscore the importance of mobilising resources for infrastructural connectivity across national borders with the expectation that when the necessary conditions were put in place, Ghana would have the competitive edge to also take advantage of the vast untapped opportunities on the continent to accelerate its economic growth and sustainable development.
Ms Tetteh said on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the AU, African heads of state and governments should rededicate themselves to pursuing the pan-African vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.
She said the new African vision — Agenda 2063 — called for African countries to speed up the processes of integrating their economies, adding that one of the flagship programmes under the Agenda was the creation of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by the indicative year of 2017.
Ms Tetteh observed that it was in the light of Agenda 2063 that the theme of the Ghana-Africa Business Awards, namely, “Accelerating Ghana’s Economic Development through Increased Intra-Africa Trade and Investment”, was both apt and timely.
She underscored the government’s vision to build a strong and resilient economy with areas such as diversification, value addition to primary products and promotion and patronage of locally manufactured goods and services serving as the drivers accelerating economic development in the country.
Speaking on behalf of the African Diplomatic Corps, Mr Cherif Oumar Diagne, Vice Dean of the Corps, who is also the Ambassador of Senegal, bemoaned the fact that historically African economies had relied to a very large extent on trade with, and investment from Europe and North America.
Ambassador Diagne said in the past, African countries had been characterised as individually constituting markets too small to support large-scale production, especially of manufactured goods.
It was in recognition of the adverse situation that African countries established sub-regional bodies to promote economic co-operation, he said.
Among such regional groupings are the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Co-operation Council (SADCC) which are committed to the design and implementation of mechanisms for the integration of the sub-regional economies.
In the ECOWAS sub-region, for example, Ambassador Diagne was delighted that a number of initiatives including the ECOWAS Monetary Programme and the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme were being executed.
The awards ceremony, which was organised by Top Brass Ghana under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, honoured enterprises which have made major contributions to Ghana’s development through international trade or inward investment from sister African states thus strengthening continental economic integration.
The ceremony was presided over by Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua, the Chairman of the parliamentary select committee on Foreign Affairs.
In attendance was the La Mantse Nii Kpobi Tettey Tsuru.