Plans are ongoing to get an African standard that every AfCFTA member state will comply with to ensure the seamless movement of goods that are traded in the single continental market, Senior Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and Head of the National AfCFTA Coordination Office, Dr. Fareed Arthur, has disclosed.
He however stressed that member countries will be allowed to put in place their requisite checks and balances to ensure the wholesomeness of goods that enter their market,” he indicated.
“Currently, a lot of work is being done on standardization and other components that need to be in place for trading to take place seamlessly.
We have the Africa Standards Organisation which will soon be headed by Ghana from next year; so that there is that movement to get an African standard for goods that are traded under the AfCFTA” he told Single African Market in an interview.
Harmonisation of standards was one of the key concerns that came up from the fair and most Ghanaian businesses see this as a major hindrance to their expansion to other markets under the AfCFTA.
But according to Dr. Fareed Arthur, that observation was a notable objective of IATF 2021 to identify the various conditions under which trading could be carried out.
He said platform that was provided by the fair could be a gamechanger for most of the Ghanaian businesses that were present if they could leverage and build on the connections and partnerships that they made at the event.
The essence of IATF 2021 was for participants to identify markets and opportunities across the continent, he added.
“Having the opportunity to access markets is always a gamechanger for business and it’s good for young entrepreneurs and producers to identify such fairs to exhibit their goods, either physically or virtually,” he said.
