AfCFTA to gag against substandard projects - Prof Alex Dodoo

Director-General of Ghana Standards Authority, Professor Alex Dodoo, has said his outfit, together with other law enforcing agencies are ready to ensure that goods of low quality are not dumped onto the Ghanaian market.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, Professor Dodoo explained that the move was to make sure the Ghanaian industries stay in business while trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

According to him, “Under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), there are two things we are guarding against. 1. Sub-standard products; not only from Africa but from anywhere else in the world and the Ghana Standards Authority and our sister agencies are ensuring that we will enforce our laws. However, there is another component where which is dumping. People can bring good quality products but they have been funded by their governments to produce these cheaper than it would cost to produce it normally.”

“So, we know we have the Ghana International Trade Commission which can deal with these issues but it is not only a GICC issue but a national issue. AfCFTA comes with a lot of opportunities but there are real risk and the real risks are dumping and the proliferation of substandard products if we are not awake to stop these dangers,” he reiterated.

AfCFTA is a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. It aims at attaining inclusive and sustainable development across the continent over the next 50 years.

The project will rescue 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and 70 million from moderate poverty, by 2035.

Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, revealed that the implementation of AfCFTA has ushered in a new age of industrialisation in Africa with access to a single continental market size of 1.2 billion and an estimated domestic GDP of USD 3.4 trillion.

“The AfCFTA is the key to African businesses recovering from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and seeking to leverage new opportunities in new markets," he said.