President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has passionately appealed to all fifty (50) Governors of the United States of America, not to ignore Africa in their quest to develop viable partnerships across the globe for trade and investment opportunities.
Addressing the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Winter Meeting, in Washington DC, USA and being the first African leader to address the 50 US Governors at an NGA meeting, Akufo-Addo said Ghana and the rest of Africa are looking forward “to a new kind of relationship with America that would be characterised by a substantial increase in trade and investment cooperation”.
“I urge you not to ignore our continent”. This call, the President made on the grounds that, “many people say this is the Asian century, but I believe strongly that this can be Africa’s century. Our growth in 2015 was second only to that of Asia.
“According to the World Bank, six of the world’s ten (10) fastest growing economies this year are in Africa. We are rich in natural resources and in possession of nearly 30% of the earth’s remaining mineral resources”.
On the bases of these facts, the President urged the Governors and America as a whole to look at Africa irrespective of existing challenges.
Quoting the famous America politician, William Jennes Brian, who once said “Destiny is not a matter of choice, it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved,” Mr. Akufo Addo emphasized that Africa is determined to engineer the continent from poverty to prosperity.
“There are many among us who cannot accept that it is only Asians who can engineer in a generation, their transition from poverty to prosperity. We are determined to do that in our generation in Ghana and on the continent to ensure that succeeding generations will be neither victims nor pawns of the global order.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/Wilberforce Asare
