Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen has promised that Ghana will be ready with its action plan for the implementation of the Continental free trade agreement before July this year.  This follows the inauguration of seven technical working groups with the task of developing a localized strategy for the government in order for Ghana to take full advantage of the agreement.  The seven technical working groups include; trade facilitation, trade policy, enhancing productive capacity, trade-related infrastructure, trade finance, trade information and factor market integration. Launching the technical working groups, Minister of Trade and Industry Alan Kyerematen said, “You have to have a national plan that supports the private sector in your country to develop the productive capacity to access the financing that will enable them grow their business. You need an action plan that will identify specific market information on products that can be exported to different countries; you need all these interventions to enable you to benefit as a country from the CFTA.” Ghana has been chosen by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) to host the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).   The core mandate of the Secretariat will be to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which has since been ratified by 25 member states.   With the AfCFTA now the world’s largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organisation, it will cover a market of 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.5 trillion, across the fifty-four (54) Member States of the African Union that have signed up to the Agreement.   The national steering committee is to be chaired by the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Patrick Nimo.