Media personalities push for Pan-African trade journalists body ... To support AfCFTA agenda

Top media personalities across Africa have called for the formation of a pan-African group of trade journalists who will champion the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agenda.

The journalists are of the view that the formation of such a body is the surest way to help sensitise the continent to the merits of the AfCFTA.

Again, they underscored the need for the pan-African media group to promote an African Chamber of Commerce led by individual countries.

They made those observations at a webinar hosted jointly by the African Prosperity Network (APN), organisers of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD), and the AfCFTA secretariat in Ghana last Tuesday, (December 19, 2023).

Webinar

The webinar was meant to champion the AfCFTA concept and its economic benefits across the continent, as well as explore and strategise on how African media could engage people and promote information-disseminating services across the continent.

The webinar comes a month ahead of the next APD slated to take place from January 25 to 27, 2024 at the Peduase Presidential Lodge at Aburi Hills in the Eastern Region.

The Founder and Executive Chairman of the APN, Gabby Otchere-Darko, said the AfCFTA was arguably the biggest project for Africa, for which reason, every effort must be made to ensure its full implementation.

Mr Otchere Darko underscored the important role of the media, saying, “this is where the media comes in and how we can get the media to unpack this free trade story of the continent is really what this conversation is all about”.

“It took a powerful media to get one country to leave a single market and I am talking about Brexit.

In the same vein, it will take a powerful media on this (African) continent to understand that if we come together to this single market, it will benefit all of us,” he added.

Opportunities

The Chief Technical Advisor at the AfCFTA Secretariat, Dr Tsotetsi Makong; and a columnist at the Nation Media Group, East Africa, Charles Onyango-Obbo, observed that youth unemployment, which was the major challenge facing the continent, could be resolved through AfCFTA. 

Dr Makong said the trade volumes between the African continent and countries such as China, the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU), India, and the United Kingdom (UK) could be leveraged in favour of the continent.

“Having a pan-African chamber of commerce is absolutely essential for the success of the AfCFTA.

Considering the amount of distrust between African trade and investment counter-parties, the unavailability of a credible institution to do due diligence of potential partners would prevent intra-African transactions from being consummated”, another journalist, Toma Imirhe said.

Continent of choice

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), Yofi Grant, who is a strategic partner of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues, observed that the rest of the world was coming to Africa because the continent had opportunities.

He said the huge deposits of mineral resources required for the energy transition was a unique opportunity for Africa to develop and catch-up with the developed world.

Again, he said Africa had a youthful and the fastest-growing population of about 1.4 billion which could be leveraged for development.

He observed that with a significant proportion of that demography being under 35 years, there was a major consumer market waiting to happen and a very important source of human capital for the world’s next development and growth.

Additionally, he said “Africa was home to 60 per cent of the world’s remaining arable land left for cultivation, “so, if you are looking at food security globally, you cannot have that conversation without talking about Africa.”

Mr Yofi Grant stated that the AfCFTA was a journey that the continent must embark on together if the continent was to get out of the bottom of the pit of development. 

Background

Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) is organised by the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) in collaboration with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat. Next January’s dialogues will be hosted by the President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who has invited several of his fellow African heads of state, plus the President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, President Irfaan Ali.