The Africa Prosperity Network (APN) is partnering with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to organize the Africa Prosperity Dialogues in Ghana from January 25-27, 2024.
The event aims to provide a platform for top business leaders, heads of international development institutions, and social change makers to discuss and propose comprehensive policies to boost intra-Africa trade.
The organizers emphasize the need to rewrite colonial-era commercial arrangements, ensuring that Africa’s resources contribute to the continent’s development through actionable and bankable value-added pathways.
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Founder and Executive Chairman of Africa Prosperity Network, highlighted the importance of investing in key sectors and prioritizing trade to unlock Africa’s global potential.
“The idea about the single market is about what. It is about the economy, and who are the drivers of the economy? Is the private sector. So we thought that it was important to find a way to let the private sector on the continent own the AfCFTA and drive it”.
“In order for us to move on, we need to find a way to aggregate our resources, human strength, and natural resources to build linkages across the continent”, he added.
The establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) not only provides a robust policy framework for boosting intra-African trade but also elevates Africa’s economies, according to Silva Ojakol, Chief of Staff at AfCFTA.
The three-day Africa Prosperity Dialogues event is expected to strengthen the vision and mission of the Partnership for African Prosperity and Trade (PACT).
“Our contribution to industrial growth is only 2.0%. Why, because we allow our resources to be taken away and value elsewhere when we could actually add value here. We need to rise above this. This disparity highlights the urgent need for industrialisation for improved infrastructure and energy solution to enhance competitiveness and reduce the production cost”.
The theme for the 2024 Africa Prosperity Dialogues is “Delivering Prosperity in Africa-Produce, Add Value, Trade.”
The event will be hosted by the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo.
As part of the program, there will be the Africa Prosperity Champions Awards and a Presidential gala dinner on the night of January 26, 2024, at Kempinski Hotel in Accra. The Presidential Dialogues will take place at Peduase Presidential Lodge, Aburi Hills, on Saturday, January 27, 2023.