GHANA is earmarked to host Africa’s political and business leaders’ maiden edition of the Africa Prosperity Dialogues (APD) this month-end.
MONICA KAYOMBO, lusaka
In a statement issued yesterday, Ghana President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretary general Wamkele Mene and other invited African leaders and accomplished business leaders are expected at the historical summit slated for Ghana this month-end.
The launch of the APD is in recognition of how, for the trade agreement to work, there must be shared ownership of the AfCFTA’s objectives, particularly by businesses, whether big or small, right from the onset.
The Initiative of the Africa Prosperity Network (APN), the dialogue series are expected to bring Africa’s political and business leaders together in conference with other thought leaders on Africa.
Participants at the conference will not only brainstorm on the all-important single-market project for the continent but will create an annual platform for the continent’s leaders to spearhead collaborative implementation of the all-important African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
In recent times, global geopolitical turmoil has exposed Africa’s over reliance on the global supply chain and on exports of natural resources.
It has also highlighted how important it is for Africa seriously to strengthen the capacity for greater intra-African reliance and cushion herself against exogenous shocks of events beyond her control.
The APD will incorporate the launch of various platforms for political and business leaders on the continent and in the diaspora to think, plan and collaborate towards building the world’s largest single market of Africa’s 1.4 billion people.
The move will help create more opportunities for African citizens and build a more prosperous Africa.
Dubbed the “Kwahu Summit” because the concept was developed at the Rock City Hotel in the Kwahu Mountains of eastern Ghana, the dialogue series will also help bring into sharp focus the continent’s critical challenges.
The APD will also outline industrialisation priorities, and aggressively advance the commercial and infrastructural interventions required to achieve the goal of deepening intercontinental trade.
The dialogues will take place in two parts and the first one will feature the Business and Policy Leaders’ dialogue.
The first dialogues will focus on retreat for business executives and associations, senior public figures, thought leaders, technocrats and the Association of Africa Investment Promotion Agencies.
This event will take place on 26 and 27 January at the idyllic Safari Valley Resort in Aburi on the mountainous Akuapem Ridge.
The second part of the dialogues to be hosted by President Akufo-Addo will take place on Saturday 28 January 2023.
The President will be joined by a number of Heads of State from across the eight regional blocs on the continent.
Among the leaders invited are the presidents of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.
Accomplished entrepreneurs, industrialists, economists, bankers and other business leaders in Africa and beyond have also confirmed their participation.
