The 74th Annual New Year School and Conference will open today at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra with the Vice President being the special guest to formally open the event.

The four-day conference will start from Monday, January 16-19, 2023, on the theme "Positioning the African Market for Sustainable Economic Development through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)."

The theme will capture the options facing Ghana and other African countries during the economic challenges and provide space for stakeholders to look at the huge potential Africa can offer within the region.

Sources closed to the Ghanaian Times said the conference would be under the auspices of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Ministries of Finance, Education, Communications and Digitisation, Trade and Industry, and Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

The Secretary-General, AfCFTA, Mr Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, is expected to deliver the keynote address at the opening.

The Dean of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Professor Olivia A.T. Kwapong, speaking at the launch of the conference earlier, said the school had served as a national forum for discussions on national issues by the citizenry.

She said resolutions from the conference over the years were presented in a communiqué for policy direction and implementation, adding that "we now have a policy that is directing development in the entire country".

The 74th conference, she stated, would feature presentations on financial, educational, governance, security, and digital technology preparedness for AfCFTA.

Since its inception in 1948, the conference has been the flagship programme of the University and attracts people from all walks of life to deliberate on topical issues of national and international interest.

The recommendations inform policy decisions and directions in the country.