President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will on Monday, August 17, hand over the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat in Accra to the African Union Commission (AUC), a statement has said.
The ceremony will be attended by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the newly-elected Secretary General of AfCFTA, the speaker of Parliament, Chairman of the Council of State, Senior Government Official and members of the Diplomatic Corps.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a limited number of other guests from the private sector and other public sector organizations have been invited to witness the ceremony.
The statement released Friday said Ghana was selected as the country to host the secretariat of the AfCFTA in July 2019 during the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit held in Niamey, making it responsible for overseeing the implementation of the agreement.
“The Secretariat will administer the free trade agreement creating a single market for fifty-five countries with a combined population of 1.2 billion and a total Gross Domestic Product of about US$2.5 trillion,” the statement said.
So far, 54 countries have signed the agreement with 25 countries ratifying same.
The AfCFTA is an agreement between some member states of African countries to accelerate intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation and instruments across the Regional Economic Communities (RECS) and across Africa in general.
By Sheena Pankani|3news.com|Ghana
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