By: Jones Anlimah
The Eastern, Volta and Oti Regional Chapters of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has organized its 2022 Annual General Meeting with a call on Ghanaians to patronise made in Ghana in the context of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA) and promoting the local economy.
The theme for this year’s Regional meeting was, “Promoting local economic development through the African Continental Free Trade Area.”
The Annual General meeting of the Eastern, Volta and Oti Regional Chapters of the Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI) which was held at Worawora in the Biakoye District of the Oti region was attended by members from the three regions.
The meeting served as a platform for them to learn best practices for the growth of their businesses and collective social wellbeing.
The regional Chairman of the Association, Mr Dela Gadzanku, said there was the need to come up with policies and strategies for the growth of the local economies within the country.
He also called for stronger collaboration between public and private sectors to derive maximum economic benefits in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“We are building strong collaboration, strong partnerships with our local assemblies to expose the economic investment potentials to the international investment community” he said.
The Oti regional Minister, Dr. Joshua Makabu said there was the need to strengthen local economies to serve as catalyst for economic prosperity. He assured of the preparedness of the region to leverage on its potentials in the context of the AFCTA
The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa called on members of the Association to partner the government to add more value to the country’s raw materials as a way of establishing a link between industrial development and Ghana’s raw materials.
He urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Excutives to identify and prioritize the various potentials within their jurisdictions to derive maximum economic benefits.
“Let us work with the leadership, we also ought to mobilize them, give them the support, strengthen them and let us make use of all the raw materials and opportunities around us and I’m sure we will come back next time to talk about practical things and witness exhibitions. We should also take advantage of our tourism opportunities that are around us and we can make a better region and a better Ghana together,” he said.
The Kenyan High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Eliphas Barine, said it was vital for Ghanaians to buy into the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
He urged Ghanaian to develop taste for made in Ghana to help improve the local economy. He also urged financial instituions to take advantage of the implementation of AfCFTA.
“We need our financial institutions to be embedded with AfCFTA. We need to see our financial institutions playing a role within the AfCFTA to capitalise and begin to find space into that.”
An exhibition was mounted to showcase the work of AGI members.
