{"id":95006,"date":"2025-09-20T03:12:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T03:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=95006"},"modified":"2025-09-20T03:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T03:12:00","slug":"mahama-pitches-ghana-as-uk-business-gateway-to-trillion-dollar-afcfta-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=95006","title":{"rendered":"Mahama pitches Ghana as UK business gateway to trillion-dollar AfCFTA market"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 0 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>President John Dramani Mahama has made a direct appeal to British businesses, urging them to capitalise on Ghana\u2019s robust political stability and strategic position by establishing the country as their manufacturing and processing hub for the entire African continent.<\/p>\n<p>The appeal came on Friday, September 19, during a diplomatic engagement in Accra where President Mahama officially welcomed the new British High Commissioner to Ghana, Christian Rogg. <\/p>\n<p>The President\u2019s core message centered on leveraging the newly operationalized African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which creates a single market of 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately $3.4 trillion.<\/p>\n<p>President Mahama highlighted Ghana\u2019s advantage as the host nation for the AfCFTA Secretariat and its long history of strong, democratic governance, which provides a predictable and secure environment for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are encouraging more UK companies \u2014 there are already so many of them \u2014 but we are encouraging more to come and set up in Ghana, using Ghana as a hub and as a gateway to take advantage of the AfCFTA,\u201d the President stated.<\/p>\n<p>The President emphasized the monumental trade benefits now available under the continental agreement. \u201cBecause now, we are able to export duty-free, tariff-free into each other\u2019s markets. So Ghana is positioning itself as the hub for manufacturing and processing into the other markets,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The UK is already one of the largest foreign investors in Ghana, with data from the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) showing that over 200 UK-affiliated companies operate across sectors like mining, finance, telecommunications, and manufacturing. These companies contribute significantly to Ghana\u2019s economy, employing tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024 alone, bilateral trade between Ghana and the UK surpassed \u00a31.5 billion ($1.85 billion), driven primarily by commodities and technology. <\/p>\n<p>President Mahama\u2019s administration aims to significantly increase this figure by attracting UK manufacturing plants that can produce goods locally in Ghana and then export them across the continent, taking full advantage of the 90% tariff reduction offered by AfCFTA on qualifying goods.<\/p>\n<p> The call signals a strategic focus on shifting Ghana\u2019s economic base toward industrialization and value addition.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting concluded with both President Mahama and High Commissioner Rogg affirming their commitment to strengthening the deep economic and diplomatic ties between the two nations, setting the stage for increased British commercial engagement in the West African economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"95006\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\">\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/plugins\/booster-extension\/\/assets\/icon\/happy.svg\" alt=\"Happy\">\n                    <\/a>\n                    <div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">\n                        Happy                    <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                        \n                                                <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            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<div class=\"twp-reaction-title\">Surprise<\/div>\n                    <div class=\"twp-count-percent\">\n                                                    <span style=\"display: none;\" class=\"twp-react-count\">0<\/span>\n                                                                        <span class=\"twp-react-percent\"><span>0<\/span> %<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1438-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Mahama pitches Ghana as UK business gateway to trillion-dollar AfCFTA market\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mahama pitches Ghana as UK business gateway to trillion-dollar AfCFTA market\">President John Dramani Mahama has made a direct appeal to British businesses, urging them to capitalise on Ghana\u2019s robust political stability and strategic position by establishing the country as their manufacturing and processing hub for the entire African continent.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2512,1969,111,117,10,9,1893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-gipc","category-hp-news-3","category-mahama","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}