Consequently, he said the government was hoping that by September 1, 2020, the assessment of the readiness to test all passengers would have been completed to enable the borders to re-open. In his 15th national address on measures being taken against the spread of COVID-19 on Sunday night [August 16, 2020], President Akufo-Addo said the re-opening of the borders will depend on the assessment. "I know many still ask whether our borders, especially our international airport, Kotoka International Airport will be opened. "Under my instructions the Ministry of Aviation, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) have been working with the Ministry of Health and its agencies to ascertain our readiness to re-open our airport." "I want to ensure that we are in a position to test every single passenger who arrives in the country to avoid the spread of the virus. The outcome of that exercise will show us the way and determine when we can re-open our border by air. "I'm hoping that by God's grace we will be ready to do so by the 1st of September [2020]. Until further notice, our borders by air, land and sea remain closed to human traffic," President Akufo-Addo said. "Beaches, pubs, cinemas and night clubs are still to remain closed until further notice", President Akufo-Addo said. He reiterated that the limit on the numbers of persons who can attend conferences, workshops and award events, has not been lifted, subject to the maintenance of social distancing amongst participants, fresh air ventilation of the premises, and a two-hour limit for each session. Source: Graphic Online
In this context, the Commission believes that for the current AfCFTA operationalisation timeline of January 1, 2021, to be met, and the decision of African Leaders on the fast-tracking of processes leading to the commencement of trading to be implemented, outstanding AfCFTA negotiations must move online too. AU member states have outlined a number of concerns regarding the use of virtual systems, especially regarding infrastructure reliability, security and confidentiality. In this regards, the African Union Commission has received with open hands many offers of support to help address these concerns that have come from the continental private sector, notably the African Virtual Trade-Diplomacy Platform (AVDP), itself a part of the broader AVRIVA (African Virtual Resilient-Integration for a Vibrant Africa) framework being developed as a public-private initiative between the African Union Commission and the over two dozen major multinational African corporations and pan-African institutions operating under the umbrella of the AfroChampions Initiative. The AVDP and the AVRIVA concept aim to rally support towards a campaign to keep the AfCFTA on track using technology by enabling Member States to participate effectively and securely in the outstanding negotiations of the AfCFTA. This will help to ensure that African countries are able to meet the new date for the start of trading under the AfCFTA of 1st January 2021 as set by African Heads of State and Government, who are strongly committed to getting the AfCFTA agenda back on track after the postponement of the start of trading initially set for 1 July 2020. This is also bearing in mind that all analyses and studies confirm that the AfCFTA represents Africa’s best insurance policy and strategy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. To ensure that Member States’ outstanding concerns about the security and reliability of the pro-integration digital platforms are addressed through the AVDP initiative, the Commission constituted a high-level committee of experts. This includes representatives from Member States, relevant Departments and Directorates of the AU Commission and security and Information technology specialists from the African private sector, to examine all aspects of the matter and present comprehensive guidance and advice to the Senior Trade Officials of Member States tasked with the AfCFTA program. The concerns about the timely commencement of AfCFTA trading come at a time when countries all over Africa are getting ready to reopen their borders and economies, and a coordinated and harmonised effort is therefore urgently required to prevent confusion in the integration agenda. Here too, the Commission is hopeful that digital technologies can play a very powerful role in driving positive cooperation among Member States for a safe, smart and harmonised reopening process. In this regard, the mandate of the High-level Expert Committee is being broadened to include a review of the various options available to Member States, including digital solutions, which could be used to roll out trade under the AfCFTA on 1 st January 2021. Critical amongst these emerging digital solutions are: The establishment of a Pan-African technology platform to enable citizens of African countries to travel across borders (based on technical input from Koldchain BioCordon, the draft DABBIT protocol, and the latter’s reference archetype, PanaBIOS), as well as digitisation of the biosurveillance and bioscreening protocols of the Africa Centres for Disease Control & Prevention (Africa CDC), which are being developed as part of the AU Open Corridor Initiative; The design and deployment of a technology framework for aligning e-commerce and e-trading platforms, such as African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) developed by the Africa CDC, the “AfCFTA number” concept based on the draft TribeID protocol, and the African e-commerce platform Sokokuu promoted by AeTrade Group, with the needs of AfCFTA; and A broad initiative to enhance cybersecurity in multilateral affairs on the continent. The recommendations of the High-level Expert Committee, which is being expanded to include other key stakeholders with in-depth expertise in digital solutions and wide knowledge of the African technology terrain will be submitted to Senior Trade Officials for consideration. That will be on 15 September 2020 ahead of full endorsement by the AU Member States during the upcoming meeting of African Ministers of Trade on 30 September 2020 to sustain the political commitment to the use of these solutions trans-continentally. Source: MyJoyOnline
Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawoso I, President, GNCCI, said this when he was accompanied by executive members of the Chamber from Accra and Tema on a business visit to Zonda Tec Assembling plant in Tema. He said the AfCFTA secretariat provided a bigger platform for Ghanaian businesses to thrive. Nana Dankawoso asked Ghanaian entrepreneurs to take advantage of government policies including long term funding from the EXIM Bank to expand their businesses. He encouraged them to add value to their produce as well as build capacity to enable Africa to move from importation to exportation through industrialization which would lead to job creation and better livelihood for the people. He said the Chamber would serve as a link between the private sector and the government to enable members to strategise and engage policymakers on how best to benefit from AfCFTA. On the visit to Zonda, he said his outfit periodically engaged the business community to promote and protect their operations. Nana Dankawoso added that their visit was to enable them familiarise themselves with the activities of Zonda Tec as well as the challenges it faced in the automobile industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chamber, he noted, encouraged the business community to adopt modern operations and management strategies and systems to ensure safe and healthy working environments in order to stay competitive. He commended Zonda for contributing to the economic and industrial growth of the country especially in the automobile sector through job creation and training. Ms Yang Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Zonda, thanked the Chamber for the visit and stated that the company had not regretted investing in Ghana, saying Zonda had enjoyed a cordial business relationship with the country. She told the Ghana News Agency that she was happy to invest in people by training mechanics of clients, saying in 2019 the company assembled over 300 trucks at its assembly plant in Tema which was opened under the ‘One District, One Factory’ policy of government. Zonda Tec Ghana Limited is a heavy-duty vehicle trading company that started operating in Ghana in 2013. Their products included oil and water tankers, tipper trucks, LPG tankers, semi-trailers, concrete mixtures, flats, and lower beds, payloaders, road rollers and backhoe loaders among others. The visiting members of the GNCCI toured the company’s assembling plant, training centre, warehouse, and service centre. Source: MyJoyOnline
While local assemblers in Nigeria, home to nearly half of the region’s population, have partnered with companies such as Volkswagen AG to make vehicles in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari last year rejected a bill that would give carmakers a 10-year tax holiday, dealing a blow to their efforts to expand manufacturing capabilities there. Now, smaller neighbors like Ghana are stepping up to the plate. The country approved its own auto policy last year, offering tax breaks to carmakers and promising to restrict second-hand cars, which account for 70% of vehicle imports in a country with barely any local manufacturing. Within months, parliament banned imports of cars that are more than 10 years in a bid to lure the likes of Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota and Renault. On Aug. 3, Ghana became the fifth location on the continent where VW cars are assembled, even though the bulk of the work – at the initial stage, at least — will be done by a local partner that’s the German carmaker’s main dealer in the nation of 30 million people. Volkswagen provided training to the staff of the Accra-based Universal Motors Ltd.’s assembly plant through video conferencing after the pandemic forced borders shut. But Covid-19 has only worsened another roadblock for consumers: affordability. People have embraced second-hand cars, coming up with nicknames for the most common brands, because new ones are too expensive and auto-financing is scarce. In Ghana, less than 5% of cars are financed by banks, according to the Ghana Automobile Dealers Association. Until that’s addressed, the auto policy’s success will remain in question. Source: Bloomberg
The President said the initiative is a result of a meeting he held with German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she visited Ghana in 2018. “She visited at my invitation and in our discussion, an agreement was raised between government and Volskwagen and its Ghanaian partner, Universal Motors Limited for the assembling and ultimately the production of VW vehicles in the country,” President Akufo-Addo said. The President said the move is part of measures by the government to develop the Automobile Industry in Ghana however said there were many who expressed doubts over it. But after two years, he said he was glad that the dream had materialised. “And I am happy to be here today to launch, officially, the first Volkswagen vehicle assembled in our country,” he said. “Volkswagen means ‘the people’s car’ so I am expectant that the brands being assembled in Ghana will not only be affordable, but also be of highest quality,” he said. He further pledged government support to the company to ensure the sustainability and profitability of this brand in the country. Source: MyJoyOnline
According to him, MSMEs will gain little or nothing from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) if government fails to support them. MSMEs which make up about 80% of the country’s economy often struggle to meet the operational cost of getting their goods to meet international standards making it difficult for them to compete favourably on the market. The MSMEs however will also be the main drivers of the AfCFTA on the part of Ghana. Currently, the AfCFTA constitutes the 5th biggest economy in the world with a US $3.4 trillion economy, consumer and business spending at US4 trillion annually, while covering a consumer base of 1.35 billion people. A majority of MSMEs in the country may however miss out on the benefits of the trade agreement if they are not able to meet the necessary requirements. Not only do standards ensure consumer protection, but they also promote and protect economic interests of consumers, industry and businesses. In an interview with Citi Business News at the sidelines of the Intra African Trade Conference organized by the Association of Ghana Industries and the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana, Professor Alex Dodo said government must be willing to invest its resources to fully build up MSMEs to international standards. “Ghana has the human resource and the companies to grow however about eighty percent of our companies are small and medium-sized companies. The only way they can compete and win under the African Continental Free Trade Area is if their quality requirement are in line with the best on the market. That will need investment in standardization in testing and in certification, and I am happy that all stakeholders at this meeting agree that the important thing is for the state to support SMEs by meeting the cost of these issues because for them to develop they will need some help and its cross-cutting”. About Intra- African Trade Conference The Intra-African Trade Conference was organized by the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK Ghana) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) under the GIZ’s Special Initiative and Training and Job Creation in Ghana. The event put together 4 speakers and stakeholders in the areas of global trade and investment on one platform to share information and discuss relevant global trade and investment within the Agribusiness/Food/ Beverages Sector, Automotive, and the General Manufacturing Sector. The event also introduced the Intra-African desk setup by AHK Ghana offering access to relevant business information to aid successful entry into the Ghanaian and Tunisian markets.