Explore innovative ways to drive intra-African trade - Samira Bawumia urges leaders
The wife of the Vice-President, Samira Bawumia, has called on African leaders and captains of industry to explore innovative ways to drive intra-African trade, stimulate inclusive growth, address inequalities and embrace sustainable development practices.
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She also encouraged them to acknowledge the pivotal role of Africa’s youthful population, the empowerment of women and the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in shaping Africa’s future.
Mrs Bawumia made the call when she launched the second Africa Prosperity Dialogue (APD) 2024, organised by the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) in Accra yesterday.
The APD was launched in 2022 as the flagship event of the APN to serve as a common platform where African leaders convened each year to deliberate on actionable steps for creating prosperity through economic integration, especially under the AfCFTA, for all Africans and people of African descent.
Core
Mrs Bawumia said at the core of the dialogue lay the implementation of AfCFTA which required collaboration, coordination and collective effort from all stakeholders as well as partnerships with governments, civil society and international partners.
These, she stressed, must work hand in hand to create an enabling environment to facilitate seamless trade, reduce trade barriers and promote the movement of goods, services and investment across borders.
“I urge all stakeholders to commit to action; let us not limit ourselves to conversations and agreements but also implementation of those ideas and solutions which will be generated during these dialogues,” she added.
The wife of the vice-president also called for greater investment in education, vocational training and entrepreneurial support for young people.
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Women
Mrs Bawumia called for the breaking down of the barriers which hindered women's progress to ensure full participation to realise the potential of AfCFTA by fostering investments in infrastructure and removing trade barriers.
She called on all stakeholders to leverage the dialogue to foster cross-sectoral partnerships, build bridges, bridge divides and align efforts towards the shared vision, that “we need to support such initiatives as the APD to constantly remind ourselves of the common vision of creating the Africa we want”.
Private Sector
The Executive Chairman of APN, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, said the role of the private sector in realising that vision of the AfCFTA was critical because single market was about free movement of people, goods and services.
He said it was the private sector that would make it work and that it was for that reason that APN established the APD with the support of all stakeholders to make the Africa single market work for the benefit of the people of Africa.
He said the first meeting which was held in collaboration with the AfCFTA Secretariat brought Africa’s political leaders, captains of industry and associates to brainstorm how to make AfCFTA work.
President keen
The Executive Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante, said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo followed the first dialogue with keen interest and made the recommendations available to the African Union which also adopted it.
He said the President went to that length because he believed that the vision of a developed Africa as contained in the AU 2063 vision would be attained with intra-African trade that would build the industrial transformation of the continent, create jobs and wealth for the people.
