ACCRA -- Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated the country's preparedness to lead in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative.

"The government's flagship programs such as the One District One Factory, Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Jobs and Export, the Strategic Industries Anchor Initiative, and the port modernization program will position Ghana as the new manufacturing hub of the region," Akufo-Addo said at an AfCFTA business forum late Tuesday.

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ADDIS ABABA -- The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement will create "economies of scale with the larger market of over 1.3 billion people," a senior United Nations official said Tuesday.

"The advantage of having a free trade area in a balkanized continent like ours is the possibilities of creating economies of scale with a larger market of over 1.3 billion people, and a larger economy of 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars," said Antonio Pedro, director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Sub-regional Office for Central Africa, in an interview with Xinhua.

"Since the first of January, we are now trading within the AfCFTA trade regime, which is something we should celebrate because this constitutes the largest free trade area agreement in the world, nominally speaking," said Pedro.

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WASHINGTON -- Cooperation between China and the United States is "now urgently necessary" to help support the world economy on which the COVID-19 pandemic is taking a heavy toll, a well-known American scholar has said.

"What is now urgently necessary is a joint effort by U.S. and China to partner in a project to help salvage the world economy," said Sarwar A. Kashmeri, a fellow of the Foreign Policy Association and an applied research fellow at the Peace and War Center, Norwich University, in a recent interview with Xinhua via email.

"The pandemic has throttled the global economy without exception, and both Chinese and American economies have suffered serious injury from the pandemic," he said.

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GABORONE -- Botswana will forever cherish and appreciate the cooperation that has existed between the southern African country and China in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said Tuesday.

"Botswana will forever cherish the assistance from China. PPEs (personal protection equipments) are crucial in the prevention of the spread of the disease, we really appreciate the good gesture," Sethomo Lelatisitswe, Botswana's assistant minister of health and wellness, told Xinhua. Enditem

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