2018 Economic Development in Africa Report launched

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has launched the 2018 Economic Development in Africa Report with a call to the government of Ghana to take and situate the findings and recommendations made in the Ghanaian context.

Speaking at the launch, a Managing Partner with Cicada Consulting Limited, Philip Cobbina indicated that the report is an annual publication done by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

He noted that the country can only benefit from the various recommendations stated in the report if government gives it the needed attention.

“The recommendations are good, how it will benefit us as a country requires how the specific institutions and government agencies to delve into it and have a Ghana specific for the report” he said

The report which was themed “Migration for Structural Transformation” highlighted six key points namely: Migration is key for the Continent Socio economic transformation; Intra Africa migration contributes to greater intra Africa trade; the potential of intra Africa migration can be fully realized if there is greater coherence across migration, trade, investment and capital; Africas diaspora both male and female within and outside the continent play a key role in the long term development of sending and destination countries; female migration requires specific framework addressing vulnerable employment discrimination and safety concerns; and lastly, more legal safe and better managed migration is a must for a win-win scenario for Africa and the rest of the world.

According to Philip Cobbina, the underlining phrase of the report, ‘Africa migration could boast growth and positively transform the structure of the continent’ means that Ghana can harness the benefits from migration if proper policies are put in place.

On his part, Sylvester Kartey a representative from the Ministry of Interior said, the ministry is committed to migration issues hence the development of the National Migration Policy which was launched in April 2016.

According to him, Ghana’s porous borders requires for a deliberate effort to standardized screening, registration and document issuance mechanisms.

“Security at the borders is critical in view of the emerging challenges that is terrorism which unfortunately hit Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Nigeria,” he said, adding that “the government of Ghana will continue to beef up security personnel as well as provide logistics for the services to improve upon their performance”.