The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has eloquently sold Ghana and Africa to the world and solicited support from the investor community, particularly for the agro-industry of Africa.
President Akufo-Addo took his turn last Wednesday evening to address the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), ongoing in New York, United States.
The President’s address largely represented the entire African continent, unlike his peers, who centred on their various countries.
He said: “Our message to the global investor community is, therefore, this: Africa is ready for business. Africa needs you and you need Africa. You need Africa because Africa is busily building the world’s largest single market of 1.3 billion people.
“Soon we will have a customs union, and soon we will have a continental payment system that will accelerate and facilitate trade amongst ourselves.”
CRISIS OF GEOPOLITICS
In his speech, the President stated that Africa sees the current geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to rely less on food imports from outside the continent and better use the continent’s 60% global share of arable land to increase food production.
He lamented the devastating impact of relying on Russia and Ukraine for 70 percent of Africa’s wheat consumption.
The irony, he observed, is that Africa possesses enough land, water, gas and manpower to produce enough fertiliser, food and energy for ourselves and for others.
President Akufo-Addo ostensibly acknowledged that the continent cannot do it all alone and urged global investors to see Africa for what it is: “the new frontier for manufacturing, technology, and food production.”
THE CASE OF GHANA
Speaking specifically about Ghana, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that his government has launched the ‘One District, One Factory’ policy.
He explained that with government incentives, the 1D1F has directly seen, so far, some one hundred and twenty-five (125) enterprises being set up in various districts across the country, and is leveraging each area’s competitive advantage.
He further informed the UNGA that six years ago, his government embarked on an aggressive policy of planting for food and jobs. This initiative, he remarked, has helped Ghanaian farmers increase their yields in folds.
The President’s address also touched on industrialisation, not being oblivious of the presence of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, which provides a single market as an added incentive.
As such, President Akufo-Addo indicated that Ghana has taken policy measures to add value to her natural resources.
He cited that Ghana is processing more of its cocoa, refining more of her gold, and is determined to exploit the entire value chain of her huge lithium deposits.
He continued that, “We are busily building an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry and an integrated iron and steel industry, building new oil refineries and have, so far, attracted six (6) of the world’s biggest automobile manufacturers to set up assembling plants in Ghana, prior to producing them in the country.”
BULLET HITS AFRICA ECONOMIES
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stressed the devastating effects of the much condemned Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to the President, though these developments appear distant from Africa, the continent is feeling the heat, as is the entire world.
With the world confronted by a devastating global economic pandemic, pushing Africa into its worst recession for half a century, President Akufo-Addo stated that a slump in productivity and revenues, increased pressures on spending, and spiralling public debts confronted the continent without relent.
“As we grappled with these economic challenges, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine burst upon us, aggravating an already difficult situation.
“It is not just the dismay that we feel at seeing such deliberate devastation of cities and towns in Europe in the year 2022; we are feeling this war directly in our lives in Africa.
“Every bullet, every bomb, every shell that hits a target in Ukraine, hits our pockets and our economies in Africa,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo stated that inflation has recently reached a 40-year high in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“There is record inflation in the euro zone. Several African countries have inflation rates surging three to four times higher than what they were, just two years ago.”
