Accra, Feb. 08, GNA – The Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFIC), a subsidiary of Rescue Shipping and Investment Agency Limited has hinted that the 2019 Africa International Trade and Finance Conference will be held in Ethiopia.
The conference seeks to enhance Intra-Africa Trade, strengthen Regional Integration, and promote Trade Liberalisation across the African continent, Mr Selasi Koffi Ackom, Chief Executive Officer of GITIC stated at a media briefing in Accra.
The conference, scheduled for April 11 and 12 at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, would attract business entities, executives, policy makers and experts from the sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Ackom explained that the two-day conference would provide a platform for industry players to present realistic solutions to trade, investment, and funding opportunities and is being put together by the GITFIC in partnership with Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce with support from the Ethiopian Embassy in Ghana.
He assured that trade policies and practices in general would be reformed to enhance feasible trends in businesses.
« Following the new-continental-wide-trade agreement for Africa, the moment for Africa to assert itself in the international business arena must be considered as business and political urgency, » he observed.
He said Intra-Regional Trade accounted for only 11 per cent of Africa’s total trade according to a 2015 statistics, while members in the European Union mounted over 70 per cent around the same year.
Mr. Ackom urged all industry players to come on board in spearheading a growing continental force for economic stability, adding that, all AU Member States should not relent in fast tracking the signing of trade agreement.
Mr. Regassa Kefale Ere, the Ethiopian Ambassador to Ghana, explained that Ethiopian was one of the fast growing economies with a population of about 105 million and it was appropriate they encouraged other countries to extent their business operations with them.
He believed that trading within the continent would become more relevant and bridge language and trade barriers among other hitches.
Mr. Ere urged Ghanaian businesses to liaise with growing economies such as Ethiopia for business and economic enhancement.
