Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Ghanaian Times
Published on 2024-02-21 06:46:10
Dr Edwin Alfred Obodai Provencal has officially taken on the role of Chairman of the Ghana International Trade and Finance Conference (GITFIC)-AfCFTA Tertiary Students Club. His term as chairman began on February 1, 2024, and will run until February 1, 2025.
The appointment of a club chairman is crucial for providing strategic leadership, ensuring effective coordination, fostering collaboration among members, and facilitating engagement with external stakeholders. Dr Provencal, in his acceptance speech, emphasized the importance of the GITFIC-AfCFTA club as a stronghold of empowerment and collaboration between Africa’s academia, student upliftment, and the powers within the production, manufacturing, and trade sectors of Africa’s economies.
He highlighted that the club provides a platform for channeling the energy, creativity, and passion of its members towards advancing AfCFTA objectives and effecting meaningful change in their communities through entrepreneurship, startups, and aspiring to become some of Africa’s most successful production and manufacturing stories.
Dr Provencal spoke about empowering the next generation of leaders with the knowledge and skills to navigate regional trade complexities, which will unlock fresh avenues for growth and development across Africa. He stressed the importance of remaining steadfast in principles of inclusivity, transparency, and accountability within their communities.
Professor Rosina Kyerematen, the Dean of Students Affairs at the University of Ghana, emphasized the need for private industries to fund research works that contribute to policy formulation in the country. She urged private industries not to allow research work to gather dust, but to invest in them to provide data for national policies.
She also highlighted the fact that the youth are eager to conduct research, but due to lack of funds, they are often unable to do so. These statements were made during the event where Dr Provencal was officially inaugurated as the chairman of the club.
The GITFIC-AfCFTA Tertiary Students Club was officially established at the University of Ghana in March 2023, and this precedent has since been replicated at other universities such as the University for Development Studies (UDS), All Nations University (ANU), and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). These clubs are operating on their respective campuses under the supervision of senior lecturers serving as patrons.
In conclusion, the appointment of Dr Edwin Alfred Obodai Provencal as the Chairman of the GITFIC-AfCFTA Tertiary Students Club marks an important milestone in empowering and engaging Africa’s youth in regional trade and development. His leadership will play a crucial role in coordinating the efforts of the club’s members to advance the objectives of AfCFTA and contribute meaningfully to Africa’s economic growth and development.
Read the original article on Ghanaian Times
