Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has called on the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to come on board to support the move to get legal identity for all businesses across the African continent.

According to him, this will largely help countries in Africa transact business better.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 53rd General Assembly of the World Trade Centers Association in Accra, he noted that the next logical step in Government’s integration and economic development agenda is to enable Ghanaian businesses to partake in a globally accepted verification process to give them credibility and global reach.

“I urge African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to come on board and let us get legal identity for all businesses across the African continent. That will make it much easier for transactions within Africa, amongst businesses and beyond because there is a single unique global legal identity for all businesses and that’s what we should be working towards.”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

Dr Bawumia disclosed that following the successful roll-out and acceptance of the Ghana Card as the single source of identity for Ghanaians and persons living in Ghana, Government has begun discussions with the Global Legal Entity Identification Foundation (GLEIF) to provide a single source of identity verification for all businesses (including SMEs) operating in Ghana.

The 53rd WTCA General Assembly is the first to be hosted in Africa in the over 50-year history of the WTCA, a global network of 300 business organizations in more than 100 countries.

The global event which will end on April 28, 2023, is expected to be one of the biggest gatherings of business executives, investors, financial institutions, international trade organizations, policy makers and entrepreneurs on the African continent.

On the theme: ‘Towards African Economic Integration and Enhanced Global Presence’, the assembly will foster global collaborations among the various WTCs, as well as create trade and investment opportunities for businesses and countries.

It will be recalled that at the media launch of the 53rd WTCA General Assembly, the Executive Chairman of the WTC, Accra, Togbe Afede XIV, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, revealed that the event is a great opportunity for African countries to enhance economic partnerships among themselves and other countries.

Economic integration of AfCFTA

Togbe Afede XIV indicated that it was unfortunate that in spite of the fact that Africa controlled about 60 per cent of the world’s arable land and 30 per cent of the known mineral deposits, the continent could only boast less than five per cent of global trade and gross domestic product (GDP).

He noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was created because of the difficulties African countries faced in trading effectively among themselves and delivering value. He emphasized that AfCFTA is the single largest customs-free trading area in the world and it presents the world with an amalgamated African market worth more than three trillion dollars in GDP.

Furthermore, Togbe Afede explained that the 53rd WTCA General Assembly, which would focus on Africa, was meant to further enhance strategic partnerships, as envisaged by the AfCFTA, to promote trade among African countries and the world at large. He stated that strategic global partnerships are necessary to ensure that African businesses reap the full benefits of AfCFTA.

Owing to this, he highlighted that during the WTCA General Assembly 2023, leadership will offer opportunities for these partnerships, first between companies across Africa and then between African enterprises and the world. He, therefore, urged businesses in Africa, especially those in the private sector, to participate fully in the assembly and take advantage of the opportunities associated with the event.

On her part, the Director of Member Services of the WTCA, Crystal Edn, disclosed that the WTCA was a global organization that facilitated trade and business connections among its members. Through its members, she underscored that the WTCA stimulates trade and investment opportunities for commercial property developers, airports, free trade zones, economic development agencies and small-to-medium size businesses looking to connect globally and prosper locally.

She explained that the association decided to organize the 53rd General Assembly in Africa due to the tremendous business opportunities, as well as scale of development.