Guinea and Ghana have undertaken to deepen economic ties as preparations near completion for the establishment of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Guinean President Alpha Conde expressed this expectation when Ghana’s Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah delivered a message from President Akufo-Addo to his Guinean counterpart on the relationship between the two countries.
Mr Nkrumah who was in Guinea as President Akufo-Addo’s special envoy, engaged President Conde on how both countries can work to ensure the full implementation of the free trade area.
On his part, President Conde who acknowledged a long-standing relationship between Ghana and Guinea agreed that the free trade area is necessary to deepen economic activity across the continent and help create more opportunities for its people.
Ghana is among six other countries that have put in a bid to host the CFTA secretariat which aims at establishing a single market across the continent and extending the provision of regional public goods, beyond hard infrastructure.
The rest are eSwatini, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and Madagascar.
Mr Nkrumah had earlier visited Cape Verde on a similar mission.
About the AfCFTA
Forty-Four African heads of state and government officials on March 21 2018, signed the framework to establish the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The AfCFTA is an agreement advanced by the African Union (AU) that will create the largest free trade area in the world and is one of the flagship projects of the AU Agenda 2063, which is a long-term development program urging for closer African integration by facilitating the flow of goods and people throughout the continent.
It is believed that the AfCFTA if fully implemented, could increase intra-African trade significantly and promote structural transformation by providing a lever to industrial development in African economies.
