The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, Wamkele Mene, has stated that Africa must strive to be net exporters and not just importers.

He said African countries should take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to mobilize resources and manufacture goods locally which can also be exported to other parts of the world.

Mr Mene said this while speaking at the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON) held via zoom in Accra.

“Let’s strive to be exporters and not just importers, it is time for us to work collectively and produce goods that can be exported to other parts of the world. We have all the materials and everything we need as a continent to produce goods. AfCFTA is going lay the platform for this to be achieved but we must all work together to excel,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ghana International Petroleum Conference (GhIPCON) is Ghana’s foremost Petroleum Downstream Conference where policymakers, industry operatives and experts converge to deliberate on issues of policy and operations as well as share ideas and experiences.

GhIPCON is designed to actively bring to the fore, the petroleum industry’s perspective and guidance on issues of governmental and regulatory policy as well as best practices for the advancement of the industry, not only in Ghana but across the sub-region and beyond.