The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States to remain united, and fight for a fairer world economic order.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the rich nations of the world are not prepared for an equitable and fair-trading order, as a result of the desire for hegemony.
The President made this known on Monday, 9th December, 2019, when he delivered an opening statement, on behalf of the Africa Group, at the 9th Summit of the ACP Group, in Nairobi, Kenya.
With the forebears of the ACP Group envisioning a set of objectives, including the promotion of closer trade and economic relations, and ensuring effective regional and inter-regional co-operation, he stated that the over-arching goal was to help realise a ‘new international economic order’, in which Member States were neither victims nor pawns.
He, thus, urged ACP Member States to strengthen their co-operation if they are to address these challenges successfully, adding that the reforms urgently needed in the multilateral arena, whether in trade or in peace and security, can be best effected if the Group remains united.
Citing the 2018 Report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, President Akufo-Addo stated that it “makes for sobering reading, as the ACP Region is described as having a ‘fractured economic and trade structure’, with economies of member states over-reliant on the production and export of raw materials.”
He told the Summit that the time has come for ACP member States to turn over a new page in their economic history, commit themselves to forging more value-added activities, and hinge their relations on a substantial increase in trade and investment co-operation.
That, the President indicated, is the path to progress and prosperity.
Source: Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
