Ghana has received approval from the authority of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to trade 700 local products within the African continent, a senior official said.
Minister of Trade and Industry Kobina Tahir Hammond made the announcement on the first day of the Made-in-Ghana Bazaar, saying the government has been taking a number of steps aimed at making Ghanaian products competitive domestically and abroad under the AfCFTA.
The minister said the government took advantage of the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative and facilitated market exploratory missions for 63 companies to Kenya and 52 companies to Tanzania.
“As a result, a total of 700 products have received rules-of-origin certification to trade under AfCFTA,” he said.
Hammond reiterated the government’s resolve to continue to create a conducive environment for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other manufacturing concerns in Ghana, urging the private sector to take advantage of the enabling environment to invest in local manufacturing.
“Ghana can only make strides in AfCFTA with the full participation of the private sector, particularly our SMEs, which form an integral part of Ghana’s economic transformation,” said Mavis Nkansah-Boadu, deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration, in her speech. The bazaar was put together by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to identify SMEs that make local products for export, attracting batik makers, weavers of Ghanaian kente fabric, food processing companies, and machinery fabricators, among others.