Photos: Ghana hands over AfCFTA building to AU Commission

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday handed over the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat to the African Union Commission. 

With the official commissioning and handing over, trading activities amongst African countries is expected to take off in January 2021.

The agreement which was scheduled to be operational in June 2020 was postponed after the deadly coronavirus pandemic broke out around the continent.

The president at the commissioning noted that “Ghana has fully discharged all her obligations and commitments agreed with the AU Commission.”

“We have, today, handed over a fully furnished and befitting office space, in a secured and easily accessible location within the business centre of Accra, as a permanent secretariat of the AfCFTA.

“We have also provided an appropriate furnished residential accommodation as the official residence of the Secretary-General of AfCFTA,” President Akufo-Addo said.

Adding her voice during the presentation, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayokor Botchway, assured the Secretary-General, Wamkele Mene, of Ghana’s support to the secretariat in realising an ‘Africa Beyond Aid’ through trade.

“I wish to assure Your Excellency, Wamkele Mene, first Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, of the support of the Government of Ghana and, in particular, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in the operationalisation of this African project for Africa’s development.”

The Minister held that the handing over ceremony of the AfCFTA Secretariat is “a reflection of the strong, collective resolve to push forward the African integration agenda.”

The AfCFTA agreement seeks to create a single African market for over a billion consumers with a total GDP of over $3 trillion; a figure that will make Africa the largest free trade area in the world.

There are currently 54 signatories to the trade agreement.

Below are some pictures