Dr Mahamudu Bawumia with members of the African Continental Free Trade Area Policy Network
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Policy Network (APN) has conferred an honorary membership on the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
During a courtesy call on the Vice-President at the Jubilee House, executives of the network also invited Dr Bawumia to an upcoming flagship programme of the network â the Global Investment Summit.
The APN
The APN was established in 2019 as the lead and largest international non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused primarily as a think tank on AfCFTA implementation.
The delegation included the Board Chairman of the APN, Dr Joe Tackie; the Executive Director, Louis Afful; the Deputy Executive Director, Emmanuel K. Bensah; the Executive Director, APN Women of Africa Network, Audrey Biney; the Executive Counsel of Women of Africa and Leader, USA delegation, Joyce Williams.
The rest were the Special Advisor to APN Executive Director, Kwasi Okyere-Boateng; the Head of Administration, Hannah Hayford Affriyie; President/Co-Founder of African Professionals Network, Prof. Faisal Ellis; the Director of Strategic Partnerships, University of Cincinnati, Jenny Sutmoller; the Vice-Provost of International Affairs, Raj Mehta; Julia Lartey of Jex Travel and Tours Ltd, and member of APN, Gertrude Ankah Nyavi.
Gratitude
The Board Chair of the APN expressed gratitude to the Vice-President for his reception and continuous support to the AfCFTA.
He said the APN had devoted its time to support the government to make AfCFTA a success.
The AfCFTA, with its headquarters in Ghana, is aimed at boosting intra-African trade and strengthening Africaâs trading position on the global market.
Dr Tackie added that the APN was raising awareness so that stakeholders could understand the initiatives, stressing that it was playing this role through its programmes which were focused on the youth, women, manufacturing and technology, among others.
He explained that the Global Investment Summit would seek to woo investors outside Africa to take opportunities through the free trade area.
Veep commends APN
Dr Bawumia noted that the potential impact of the AfCFTA on the economy of Africa was huge, noting that AfCFTA had the potential to be the game changer for the transformation of Africa’s economies.
He commended the APN for its quest to help with the actualisation of the policy.
Dr Bawumia said the current government had chalked up successes in terms of technological advancement than any other government in Ghana.
He mentioned mobile money interoperability, the GhanaPost digital address system digitalisation, digitisation in public service delivery, integration of national databases using the Ghana Card, and the use of drones to deliver health services as some of the achievements.
Dr Bawumia further stated that the government since 2017 had used digitisation to fast-track public service delivery, which had also helped to reduce corruption in public services.
Investment, economy
Mrs Williams called for an enabling environment so that Ghanaians in the diaspora could invest in the country.
She bemoaned the difficulty and bureaucratic processes encountered in trying to invest in the Ghanaian economy.
But Dr Bawumia reiterated the governmentâs effort to improve the economy for the greater good of the business community and the country at large.
He stressed that the government had resolved to develop a holistic and a sustainable approach for a long-term solution towards addressing the challenges confronting the economy.