Launch of AfCFTA Hub Ghana – Bringing AfCFTA Home to the People
Sept. 2, 2022, 7:57 p.m.
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization has collaborated with the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission (PCSRC) to launch the "African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Hub. The launch forms part of the Government's commitment to accelerate the country's digital plan and promote, enhance and advance digital trading, electronic commerce, marketplace, and general services.
The Sector Minister, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) stated that the rollout of the AfCFTA Hub was to ensure that Ghanaian businesses have a trusted profile beyond Ghana, to strengthen the hands of industry and regulators to fight fraudsters who will also like to use AfCFTA to regionalize their nefarious activities. She said that Ghana, a continental leader in ICT innovation and adoption, sees the Hub as an opportunity to export its ICT goods and services across Africa and beyond. Some of those prospects have already materialized.
"AfCFTA Hub should make it easier for Technology Startups, Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs), and other producers of ICT goods and services to find markets across Africa."
"Our business process outsourcing landscape can be revitalized by AfCFTA as Ghana becomes a hub for call center, data processing, data science, and various digital services for businesses all over the continent and beyond. She Stressed.
According to her, the AfCFTA Hub was designed, among other things, to aggregate content and tools to capacitate businesses across the country and upgrade their know-how to engage more forcefully in export markets beyond Ghana.
The Minister explained that the Government is digitizing and making it available to all stakeholders through the AfCFTA Hub and mechanisms of how we harness AfCFTA with regards to the process of trading, financing, discovering our market strengths and gaps to fill' the means of settlement, how goods leave our warehouses and received on the other side; and the tools for linking producers with consumers in different countries and vice versa,
Risk management is also crucial and the related ProPer Seals platform, currently being deployed by the FDA, plays a critical role.
Submit your news stories, articles or press releases to editor@digitaltimes.africa
Or
"It is the reality of a comprehensive end-to-end identity management system interlinked with credit management, human security, business facilitation, enhanced government administration, and even the improvement of democracy itself. It is the reality of a new smart working environment across the public services enabled by productivity software and dramatically improved connectivity. It is the reality of the common platform, Ghana Card, SIM Card Registration, Smart Workplace, e-Transform, Obaatanpa, Trancop, digital addressing, fintech, and the revamp of the national fiber optic network," she noted.
The Minister indicated that, as the accelerated AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative commences in pilot form with Ghana and six other proactive African countries taking charge, "we shall commence onboarding young entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), startups, and all digital marketplace actors across the country onto the AfCFTA Hub, where they can obtain a free AfCFTA Number."
The AfCFTA Number, according to her, was the powerful seed of a single continental trust-building system that would complement other AfCFTA-enabling instruments such as the PAPSS, MANSA, Digital Green Corridor, and e-Tariff mechanisms developed by the AfCFTA Secretariat, African Union, the 4D Consortium and trusted partners like Afreximbank and AfroChampions.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful added that, with the AfCFTA number, Ghanaian enterprises were guaranteed a sure and secure navigational tool and a trusted profile to speed up connections across the continent for business.
She added that, together with the AfCFTA Common Transaction ID, the AfCFTA Number would also serve critical anti-fraud and crime-fighting purposes domestically and regionally.
She said that the Hub would build confidence in both the entities and individuals who use their services locally and internationally—adding that it was expected to create a true one-stop-shop akin to our own Amazon, eBay or Alibaba.
She used the forum to use to called on businesses and industry players to speed up the adoption of the AfCFTA Number and the AfCFTA Common Transaction ID frameworks in Ghana.
According to her, all persons and enterprises engaged in courier, postal, delivery, logistics, ride-sharing, e-commerce, digital trading, and any enterprise of that nature are required to obtain an AfCFTA Number at no cost at www.afcfta.app.
The regulation of such enterprises, which hitherto has been a grey area, will be strengthened by requiring electronic registration with the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission, the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) and the Cybersecurity Authority through the digital interface available on the AfCFTA Hub at www.afcfta.app.
tag: AfCFTA, Ghana AfCFTA Hub,
Enoch Siaw Ntiamoah Author
Enoch is a content writer for Digital Times Africa, who is passionate about writing interesting topics in Entertainment, Sports and General News