Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen, says African countries should not see the Continental Free Trade Area as a platform for trading among themselves only but as an opportunity for them to influence global trade.

Member countries, he indicated, stand a huge opportunity to make economic turn-around with the AFTA and leverage it to influence global trade.

“This is the most significant development in the history of our continent [Africa] since the establishment of the OAU [Organisation of African Unity] and now the AU [African Union],” the Minister noted Wednesday, at a meeting of the Commonwealth Enterprise Council in Accra.

According to Mr Kyerematen, despite the continent being the richest in the world with its vast arable land as well as mineral wealth, “we are the poorest continent and we contribute less than 3% of global trade.”

“So whilst we harvest the benefits of the Continental Free Trade Area, we must understand that we should use the CFTA as leverage now, to expand our presence in the global market.

“So it’s not just about trading among ourselves but how to use that to expand and extend our influence globally,” he stated.

Speaking to JoyNews in an interview, Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, Jonathan Peter Marland, said countries like Ghana where the CFTA headquarters will be sited, should take advantage of the business potential that the Commonwealth presents.

Jonathan Peter Marland

“What we would like to do is to take Ghanaian businesses to 53 countries that are the Commonwealth…where there will be markets for Ghanaian goods and services,” he added.

The reason for the gathering, Mr Marland explained, is to create a group of people “who understand that trade and free trade is fundamental to bringing people out of poverty [and] to bringing prosperity to a nation.”