Ghanaian president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described the number of financial institutions that have signed onto the African Payment Settlement System, as a significant step towards the creation of Africa’s single currency.
The African Payment Settlement System (APSS), which is a digital platform to facilitate trade, is a major facilitator of the effectiveness of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The AfCFTA since its commencement has seen tremendous and important progress which includes, several financial institutions signing up for the APSS digital platform, a major step towards Africa’s economic integration.
Speaking at the closing event of the three-day ‘Kwahu Summit” African Prosperity Dialogues (APS), hosted in Ghana on Saturday, 28 January 2023, President Akufo-Addo said the AfCFTA had achieved some 90 per cent convergence of the rules of origin except a few commodities.
He said despite the 9 billion US Dollars’ worth of investment that had been secured by the AfCFTA Secretariat, there is a lot to be done to realise the full benefits of the intra-Africa trade.
Dubbed “AfCFTA: From Ambition to Action – Delivering Prosperity through Continental Trade”, the APS is a platform designed to bring together Africa’s political establishments and business leaders to plan and work out an expandable mechanism for the implementation of the single African market, the AfCFTA agreement.
The three-day event, which brought together political representatives of some African countries and astute businessmen and women, saw the best brains of African minds and experts with cutting-edge knowledge and business experience to transform the continent through the AfCFTA.
“We need quick wins” President Akufo-Addo stated, as these African minds, would provide the continent with a concentrated focus on the steps towards prosperity for the African people.
The Ghanaian President said it was encouraging to note that as of November 2022, 44 AU members had ratified the AfCFTA Agreement which demonstrated a strong commitment and political will to achieve Africa’s integration.
He said the broad agreement on four enabler fundamentals for the continent’s progress was the need to invest in productive capacities and critical infrastructure.
More also, member states would have to continue to improve the business and investment climate and strengthen investment and business promotion organizations to create a business-friendly environment for the private sector.
Additionally, African governments and respective private sector players should work to provide opportunities for the development of women and young entrepreneurs to empower women as well as engage the youth in productive sectors.
Again, investment in technology and innovation should be scaled up to transform industries in every sector of the continent’s economy.
However, he said inaccessibility, unaffordability and inadequate regulation and governments’ framework were still impeding the development of emerging technologies across the continent.
President Akufo-Addo urged African governments to continue to embark on policies to deepen industrialization, digital transformation, skills upgrading and infrastructure development.
That, he said, could be achieved by accelerating the implementation of continental programmes such as the programme for infrastructural development, the comprehensive Africa infrastructure development programme, the digital transformation strategy, the science technology and information and innovation strategy for Africa and the action plan for accelerating the industrialization of Africa.
With the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the President urged them to take advantage of the largest single market on the planet to increase value addition, promote economies of scale and expand their business.
President Akufo-Addo said all efforts should be made to scale up the mobilisation of domestic resources to support the continent’s development agenda.
He congratulated the African prosperity network, organisers of the programme, the AfCFTA Secretariat, UNECA, UNDP, the team in the Office of the President, and all other partners and sponsors for the success of the historic and maiden prosperity dialogues.
President Akufo-Addo also thanked his colleague Presidents for sending their representatives to grace the event describing it as “yet another demonstration of their commitment towards the success of the AfCFTA.”
He urged all “to see ourselves as champions of Africa trade.
