After being selected by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union as the host country for the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Ghana has promised to give $10 million to help in the operations of the secretariat.
The decision was reached and made public on Sunday, July 7, 2019, at the 12th African Union Extraordinary Summit that happened in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
Ghana brushed off competition from Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Eswatini, Senegal and Madagascar to emerge as the host country for the secretariat which is basically mandated with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which has, so far, been ratified by 27 member countries.
While welcoming the announcement, Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, expressed his gratitude to the Assembly for its decision saying it is a privilege that his country will host a pan-African institution in its history.
President Akufo-Addo thanked Senegal’s President Macky Sall for agreeing to step down his country’s in favour of Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo also expressed his thanks to all the member states that have ratified AfCFTA agreement and deposited their instruments at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Nigeria recently signed the agreement.
AfCTA is expected to cover a market area of almost 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of $3 trillion across 54 member countries of the African Union that have signed the agreement.
“We have, taken very important steps towards working with a common voice and a common purpose to exploit the abundant wealth and resources of our great continent for the benefit of all our people. Indeed, the ‘Africa We Want’ is achievable,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The president said the secretariat will enjoy full privileges and immunities stipulated in the OAU General Convention on Privileges and Immunities, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities, and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the Vienna Convention between States and International Organisations or between International Organisations and assured his counterparts that Ghana will put all things together and do its best to make sure that the secretariat gets all requisite facilities that it may need to run its operations as a world-class organization.
Africa Global News Publication
