President Akufo-Addo has praised the late president Atta-Mills for proposing establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA) in 2011.

African leaders have finally launched the continental free-trade zone for which Ghana has won the bid to host the AfCFTA.

Ghana among six countries bade to host the secretariat and was selected over Senegal, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Ethiopia and eSwatini.

Interacting with Ghanaians in France capital Paris, he added that the call for a common market place in Africa is an important one.

“Every country should have its goals and policies that it follows successfully, leader after leader. When the national goals are set, all of us who come to occupy the seat of office should then be obliged to follow it,” he stated.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA), would be the continent’s largest trading bloc since the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1994.

It will help unlock Africa's long-stymied economic potential by boosting intra-regional trade, strengthening supply chains, and spreading expertise.

It would be a merger of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC).

It took African countries four years to agree to a free-trade deal in March and if successful, the trade zone will unite 1.3 billion people, create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development across the continent.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Benin's President Patrice Talon on Sunday signed the landmark trade agreement ahead of the accord's official launch at the African Union (AU) summit in Niger.

After four years of talks, an agreement to form a 55-nation trade bloc was reached in March, paving the way for Sunday's African Union summit in Niger where Ghana was announced as the host of the trade zone's future headquarters and discussions were held on how exactly the bloc will operate.