AFCFTA engages producers and exporters of goods in Walewale

The Africa Continental Free Trade Area(AFCFTA) has engaged with some producers and exporters of goods in the North East Region to ensure that they have an effective unrestricted trade balance with the other 54 member countries of AFCFTA. The Africa continental free trade area, whose headquarters is located in Ghana is engaging those in shea butter production, rice production, watermelon production, exporters, potential exporters, and other producers of exportable goods to create an enabling environment for them to produce more for export without tariff barriers. The essence of the engagement is to apprise producers and exporters in the region for them to produce more exportable goods to any of the 54 member countries under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) to expand the production base and build human capacity. The engagement is also to ensure that the exporters are given certification for effective free trade with members of the AFCFTA to dilate the business relationships with these exporters without challenges when it comes to clearing goods at the ports. The National Exporters Development Strategy (NEDS) will ensure that exporters in the various districts of Ghana are sensitized and encouraged to produce more exportable goods to improve the business environment. Speaking after the program, Alhaji Yakubu Yussif, AFCFTA representative from the National Coordinating Office in Accra asserted that the meeting with the producers and the exporters is an opportunity for them to widen their tentacles in the production sector to create more jobs in the country after exporting the goods. "We are lucky that we have the headquarters in Ghana, so we are here to build the capacity of our exporters and create awareness of our Africa Continental Free Trade Area. It is a very big single market that is made up of 54 African countries now. We are looking at the strength of 1.2 billion people," Alhaji Yabuku said. "We are also looking at how we can increase the export net for Ghanaian exporters so that the country can get more revenue in terms of foreign currencies we yield from the exports," he added. The Ghana Exports Promotion Authority zonal director at the Tamale office, Seidu Saaka Bakari also stressed that "We are here today, Ghana Exports Promotion Authority on our National Exports Development Strategy. The strategy has three important pillars; We need to expand our production base, improve the business environment, and build a human capacity," Seidu Bakari said. He reiterated that exporters need to obtain documentation and other things before they can export goods. "Documentation and other processing before you can do your exports, we have to improve upon the documentation for the business people to have their way cleared," he added. Producers of raw materials and exporters in the area who participated in the program at the Nii Dentist Hotel in Walewale on 24 October 2022 assured the organizers of the program of their support.