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The Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has called on Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to work closely with it to overcome trade barriers.
Secretary General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene, made this call in his message to the 2023 Regional Integration Issues Forum (RIIF) in Accra, Ghana.
Mene, who was represented by Chief of Staff of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Silver Ojakol, explained the importance of the AfCFTA to MSMEs, noting that the agreement is not for big corporations.
The event was jointly organised by the Centre for Regional Integration in Africa (CRIA) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in collaboration with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), as well as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, with support from Afreximbank.
A statement from the organisers quoted Mene as saying: “The agreement was designed and framed for the women and youths who daily face challenges across the continent when crossing borders to trade in goods and services.
“If African countries came together and achieved just one percentage increase in trade amongst themselves, we would earn $70 billion, which will be higher than the $58 billion given by donors as development assistance.”
In his remarks, Rector, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Affairs (GIMPA), Professor Samuel Bonsu, said Africa has the youngest population, stressing that the need for intra-Africa trade to transform resources into better value could not have come at a better time.
The statement explained that the RIIF is a sensitization mechanism and an interface platform for stakeholders involved in regional integration and continental trade initiatives.
The 2023 RIIF is aimed at increasing awareness of the AfCFTA and its benefits for SMEs, as well as strengthening SMEs’ capacity to engage in intra-African trade.
The two-day SME conference had as its theme ‘breaking business barriers for AfCFTA Acceleration.’
The conference brought together over 150 participants from across Africa, including government officials, business leaders, academia, and civil society representatives.
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