The first day of the prestigious Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) 2022 Public Forum began with concord that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents the most exciting path for Ghanaian and African development in a generation. However, the deliberations noted the need for countries and public sector players to be aware of the challenges that will arise from this opportunity.

The forum is an annual event by the GAAS, as part of efforts to bridge the gap between Academia, Practice, and the General Public.  This year’s sessions are scheduled from the 6^th of June to the 8^th of June and are sponsored by UMB, a leading indigenous Ghanaian bank, as part of its 50th-anniversary celebrations.

The event was opened by a lucid and informative presentation by Madam Beatrice Chaytor, Head, Trade Service Division at the secretariat, here in Accra. Madam Chaytor in her presentation noted inter alia, that the AfCFTA project was on course, and over 40 countries were ready to begin offering preferential trade arrangements. She noted that unlocking trade in Africa through practical measures like reducing the over 150 border land border checkpoints in Africa, could immediately unlock at least $70 billion in value to Africa. She said AfCFTA, which was easily the number 2 or 3 largest trade block in the world, had the potential of changing the under-development story of Africa in one generation.

Professor Charles Godfred Ackah, Associate Professor ISSER, University of Ghana, Legon, in his presentation, asserted that the AfCFTA needed to focus on manufacturing and industrialization, otherwise it would not succeed. By way of equations and graphs, Professor Ackah proved his point to the audience, arguing that industrialization was correlated to the development of, for example, the fast-developing countries in Asia.