The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) will establish a dedicated AfCFTA focal desk to coordinate investment-related activities and enhance Ghana’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Chief Executive Officer Mr. Simon Madjie has announced.
Speaking during a meeting with Dr. Fareed Kwesi Arthur, Head of the National AfCFTA Coordination Office, Mr. Madjie emphasized the urgency of preparing local investors for the anticipated influx of African investors as Ghana opens its business space.
He noted that while Ghana has played a crucial role in AfCFTA’s establishment, more efforts are needed to support indigenous businesses.
Dr. Arthur, for his part, reiterated AfCFTA’s critical role in driving socio-economic growth, particularly amid global economic challenges.
He acknowledged Ghana’s leadership in the trade agreement’s operationalization and stressed the importance of solidifying the country’s investment protocols to maximize benefits.
To this end, Mr. Madjie disclosed that GIPC will host regional investment fora to educate businesses on AfCFTA’s opportunities and implications.
He emphasized that the Centre’s new AfCFTA focal desk will ensure more structured and impactful engagement for Ghanaian businesses within the free trade framework.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area encompassing most of Africa. It was established in 2018 by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which has 43 parties and another 11 signatories, making it the largest free-trade area by number of member states, after the World Trade Organization,[15] and the largest in population and geographic size, spanning 1.3 billion people across the world’s second largest continent.
The agreement founding AfCFTA was brokered by the African Union (AU) and signed by 44 of its 55 member states in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018. The proposal was set to come into force 30 days after ratification by 22 of the signatory states. On April 29, 2019. the Sahrawi Republic made the 22nd deposit of instruments of ratification, bringing the agreement into force on May 30; it entered its operational phase following a summit on July 7, 2019,] and officially commenced January 1, 2021. AfCFTA’s negotiations and implementation are overseen by a permanent secretariat based in Accra, Ghana.
