APN Engages Media On Maiden Africa Prosperity Dialogue

The leadership of Africa Prosperity Network (APN) today, engaged members of the inky fraternity in a pre-summit Media Engagement to advance Africa whiles confronting the challenges of development on the continent.

The maiden Dialogue will be held here in
Ghana from 26-28 January 2023. And this
maiden dialogue is being organized by APN, in
partnership with the Office of the President,
the Secretariat of the Africa Continental Free
Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), UNDP, and UNECA.


About Africa Prosperity Dialogue

The Africa Prosperity Dialogues, dubbed the
Kwahu Summit, is the brainchild of the Africa
Prosperity Network. The initiative is dubbed
and christened Kwahu Summit because the
idea was birthed at Rock City Hotel in Kwahu.
The Africa Prosperity Dialogue series have
been established as a convening platform for
African political and business leaders to set and push initiatives to transform Africa, with the overarching goal of achieving prosperity across the continent through:

Enhanced economic cooperation
Deeper trade and integration
Accelerating impact investments.

The theme for the 2023 summit is : AfCFTA-From ambition to Action-Delivering prosperity through Continental Trade.

Briefing the media in Accra, the Executive Director, and Coordinator at the Summit Secretariat, Dr. Eugene Owusu, stated that the Business and Policy Leaders’ Dialogue will
bring together business executives, trade associations, Ministers of State, heads of Regional Economic Communities under the Africa Union, technocrats, women, young entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to define practical ‘quick wins’ to move the AfCFTA initiative from ambition to action.

He noted that enhancing productive capacity such as transportation, agriculture, and energy; finance, technology, and innovation, critical legal and institutional constraints to the actualization of the single African market and Free Movement of people across borders are the key areas that are critical to unleashing the potential of the AfCFTA.

Dr. Owusu indicated that the AfCFTA has set the stage for Africa’s industrialization drive, and was hopeful that the initiative holds the key to the prosperity of the African continent.

“We are talking about a market of 1.3 billion people, with a combined market size of $ 2.2
trillion. The benefits of success are huge, including an estimated income gain of about $440  billion  the potential to lift an estimated 30 million people from extreme poverty.

“We must leverage the AfCFTA to unleash the full potential of this continent and to change the narrative about Africa. It is our hope that the maiden Kwahu Summit will help define concrete strategic actions by political and business leaders across the continent, including the right mix of policies,” Dr. Owusu added.

Delivery a statement at the event, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, disclosed that the importance of this platform and the dialogues that will take place here cannot be overstated.

First of all, according to the Information Minister, the Africa Prosperity Dialogue is a platform on which you will find a very strong confluence of ideas. It’s important that African leaders, African industry, coalesce well and fine tune the kind of ideas that will open the gates to the next frontier in Africa.

“A platform like this gives us a real opportunity, not a political Summit, not some other kind of summit but a confluence of ideas between industry practitioners and policy makers that would open the next frontiers of Africa”, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah emphasised.

The Information Minister who doubles as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency in the Eastern region expressed optimism saying; a look at the outline of persons and business leaders we are expecting from the entire continent who will be joining us, we will be disappointed if some very good deals are not commenced here.

“our expectation is that the coalition of actors
from the continent will take advantage of like minded persons and the kind of discussions that will take place to move when it comes to the intra African investment agenda. And the intra African trade agenda”, he stressed.

“The Government of Ghana is excited that this is best led by Ghanians and the Government of Ghana is excited to participate in it”, he assured.

In a solidarity message, H.E  Wamkele Mene, the Secretary General of AfCFTA expressed his outfit’s excitement in partnering with the President’s office and Africa prosperity network, to convene the first of its kind dialogue led by Africans to advance Africa and to confront the challenges of development on our continent.

“The first step in this journey, as we all know, was taken formally in May 1963. With the establishment of the organisation of African Unity,” he noted.

“in my view, the second most important step in Africa’s development thus economic development in particular, is the formation of the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA)”, he stressed.

The secretary General described the upcoming summit as the first of its kind and is scheduled to take place at a time when the world is facing all of these critical challenges.

Speaking further, Mr. Mene pointed out that we are in a situation where many countries in Africa import grains from Russia, Ukraine, so that when the supply is disrupted, we experience inflationary pressures on food.

Equally important point Mr. Mene raised was that we as Africans are actually going through a food insecurity crisis. 1.3 billion people relying on a country of 44 million people to feed an entire continent. And yet when you go to Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and a few other countries, Zimbabwe for instance has $200 million worth of extra grains every year.

However, according to Mr. Mene, with the AfCFTA we are beginning to turn a page, citing an example of the world transitioning from combustible engines to electric vehicles. The fifth largest exporter of lithium is Zimbabwe likewise  the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia are also in the top five exporters of lithium.

“That should tell us that when we as a continent, engages in a fundamental restructuring of Africa’s economy alongside value addition of our minerals, then we actually have a potential to influence the global economy and its direction”, he added.

” it is very, very important that we have collaboration with the private sector, that we jointly identify the challenges as well as the
opportunities that will be presented by this market of 1.3 billion people which is projected by the year 2035.

Speaking on behalf of the President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AGI, Seth Twum Akwaboa mentioned that as an Association, they therefore see this prosperity dialogue as a very important platform that they should actively involved, actively engaged and then look for opportunities.

“We see opportunities for Ghanaian industries in a way because such a platform gives you the means to elevate your worth so people will see all the things you’re producing”, he added.


By Kingsley Asiedu