Making AfCFTA a success is one of our priorities – ACBF

The Ghanaian Finance Minister Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta has applauded the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for building resilient economies across the continent through its uniquely tailored capacity-building interventions.

In line with the AU’s aspiration to build an Africa that funds its own growth, ACBF completed the creation of a Trust Fund for mobilizing resources for the AU’s High-Level Panel and the Consortium on Illicit Financial Flows from African Actors.

The Minister made this remark at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) in Accra.

ACBF regularly brings together African Think Tanks to collate fresh knowledge around key areas such as the role of governance and conflict prevention.

These meetings provide a platform to help Africa reset its own priorities and lessen its dependence on ideas and decisions from elsewhere.

According to him, ACBF continued to play a role in effective policymaking and implementation. More specifically, improving the quality of legislation on key issues such as Tobacco Control.

These interventions demonstrate the capacity of ACBF to build transferable capacities that can be applied to other pressing issues.

“Making free trade success is a priority at ACBF. We have partnered with Afreximbank to publish a policy brief that will guide the Member States on accelerating trade development to support the AfCFTA.

ACBF has also developed research on the challenges and opportunities for growth through capacity development,” he disclosed.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta said ACBF after becoming the specialised Capacity Building Institution for the Africa Union must double efforts to continue promoting inclusive growth.

He further called on all member countries to align priorities with efforts to boost Africa’s income by 450 billion dollars by 2036.

The Minister also underscored the importance of empowering women and young people in order to stand tall to help the progress and growth of the African continent.

In his remark, H.E. Erastus J.O. Mwencha Chair of the Executive Board of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) averred that ACBF is poised to partner with all their Member States to build the capacity needed to build more resilient economies.

“The Foundation has rebounded from the turbulence of COVID-19. Our strategy to recover was anchored on resilience, internal reforms, and increasing efficiencies.

This strategy included optimizing our human resource management capabilities, as well as transitioning to automated and more efficient business processes,” he stated.

In 2021, African Member States made their highest annual contributions to the Foundation, achieving 94% of their target. This was despite the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have reached out to new partners and built new strategic partnerships to support programs across Africa.

The continent currently stands at the starting line of an exciting journey, which is to build potentially the largest and most diverse trading area in the world, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA. Making the AfCFTA a success is one of our priorities at ACBF.

According to him, human and institutional capacity will be key building blocks for its success.

Therefore, ACBF has rolled out specially designed programs to prepare economies around the continent for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

“ACBF worked with a key partner, Afreximbank, to develop a policy guide to help the Member States accelerate trade development. We are grateful that Afreximbank approved a 5-year grant, to run between 2021-2025, for capacity building for trade finance and the AfCFTA,” added.

ACBF’s membership consists of 39 African countries that include, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (DRC), Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, as well as Malawi.

The others are Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Monday’s meeting of the ACBF Board of Governors saw the outfit seeking a broad policy and strategic direction for the Foundation.

In addition to discussing sustainability issues, the governors of the board of ACBF used the meeting to discuss what is on the horizon and considered the roadmap to develop the next strategy as the current strategy (2017-2022) comes to a close this year.

Source: Isaack Kofi Dzokpo/newsghana.com.gh