Africa’s poor economies cause of worsening migration – Akufo Addo

Jeremy-Corbyn-meets-Akufo-Addo

President Akufo Addo has said that the increasing number of Africans migrating to Europe and elsewhere, is as a result of the unattractive economies in their respective countries.

Nana Akufo Addo said the resultant hardship in those countries are factors that force many African youths to leave the continent for Europe and the United States of America.

The President made this known when he met with the leader of the UK’s Labour Party and leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.

“The new crop of African leaders are doing their best to change the situation,” Akufo-Addo noted. 

He said “the structure of most of the economies on Africa, including Ghana, have been dependent, largely, on the production and export of raw materials; these economies cannot create opportunities, wealth and prosperity for the African people.”

He added that “Ghana had decided to turn its back on the old economy, and focus her energies on building an industrialized, value-added economy, with a modernized agriculture, which takes full advantage of the digital revolution.”

Other issues discussed by the two leaders bordered on deepening trade relations and addressing the worsening humanitarian crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Syria.

On DRC, President Akufo Addo called for global support to address the crisis as well as the situation in Syria.

Again, as members of the Commonwealth, the President noted that Ghana and the United Kingdom continue to share common values of democratic accountability, good governance, respect for individual liberties and human rights, and the rule of law.

In the meeting, President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana and the United Kingdom continue to maintain strong bonds of friendship and co-operation, adding that the UK remains one of Ghana’s most significant trading partners, and a major source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

President Akufo-Addo invited the Labour Party leader, whose parliamentary constituency of Islington North has a high concentration of Ghanaians, to visit Ghana later in 2018, an invitation which was warmly accepted by Jeremy Corbyn.