Ghana congratulates AfCFTA’s first Secretary-General

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, congratulated Mr Wamkele Mene on his election as Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“We extend our warm congratulations to the first Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, the young South African, and assure him that we will give him our fullest co-operation to ensure he succeeds,” President Akufo-Addo stated in his Fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered to Parliament, in Accra.

"Having won the bid to host the Headquarters of the AfCFTA in Accra, the Government has provided a permanent office building to host the Secretariat, and with the appointment of the Secretary-General in Addis Ababa two weeks ago, at the recent AU Summit, the office will become operational by the end of next month.”

He said the Government was aggressively pursuing its plans for industrial transformation.

While the Business Development Ministry worked on bringing out entrepreneurial skills and encouraging young people to spot business opportunities, he said, efforts were being made to make Ghana an easy place to do business and set up industries.

“We launched the Ghana Automotive Development Policy in August last year, and it has so far attracted investments and commercial interests from some very big players, including Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruk and Suzuki,” he said.

“VW is building its plant at the North Industrial Area in Accra, and it is due to start production by the end of April. Sinotruk has begun assembling its trucks.”

 Toyota is also scheduled to start the assembly of vehicles in Tema in the last quarter of this year.

“We have high hopes for this new industry, which has come to join our own Kantanka,” the President stated.