STORY: Ghana receives approval to trade 700 products under AfCFTA
SHOOTING DATE: May 23, 2024
DATELINE: May 26, 2024
LENGTH: 00:04:21
LOCATION: Accra
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the Made-in-Ghana Bazaar
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KOBINA TAHIR HAMMOND, Ghana's Minister of Trade and Industry
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MAVIS NKANSAH-BOADU, Ghana's deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration

STORYLINE:

Ghana has received approval from the authority of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to trade 700 local products within the African continent, according to Minister of Trade and Industry Kobina Tahir Hammond.
   
Hammond made the announcement on Thursday, the first day of the Made-in-Ghana Bazaar, saying the government has been taking a number of steps aimed at making Ghanaian products competitive domestically and abroad under the AfCFTA.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): KOBINA TAHIR HAMMOND, Ghana's Minister of Trade and Industry
"The government has facilitated exploratory market expedition missions to Kenya, including 63 companies, and to Tanzania involving about 52 companies. This has led to a total of about 700 products receiving what we call rules-of-origin certification to trade under AfCFTA."
   
Hammond reiterated the government's resolve to continue to create a conducive environment for the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other manufacturing concerns in Ghana, urging the private sector to take advantage of the enabling environment to invest in local manufacturing.
   
"Ghana can only make strides in AfCFTA with the full participation of the private sector, particularly our SMEs," said Mavis Nkansah-Boadu, deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration, in her speech.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MAVIS NKANSAH-BOADU, Ghana's deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration
"The AfCFTA framework has provided a unique opportunity for intra-African trade and Ghana is at the forefront of implementation of this agreement. Ladies and gentlemen, let me emphasize that SMEs have been an integral part of Ghana's economic transformation."

The three-day bazaar was put together by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to identify SMEs that make local products for export, attracting batik makers, weavers of Ghanaian kente fabric, food processing companies, and machinery fabricators, among others.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Accra.
(XHTV)