Ghanaian leads UN-backed journalists network J-Trade Africa

Ghanaian national, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi has been elected President of the group, Journalists for Trade and Development in Africa (J-Trade Africa), backed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The formation of the network  was announced at the just-ended Second Africa Trade Forum (ATF II) held in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, September 24 to 26, 2012.

The ATF II is a meeting of stakeholders in trade organised by the UNECA’s Africa Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), headed by Mr. Alan Kyrematen.

Mr Dogbevi, who is also the Managing Online Editor of ghanabusinessnews.com  was elected unanimously by the journalists from African countries who were participating in the Forum. Moses-Micheal Phiri from Malawi and Baye Coulibaly from Mali were elected as the network’s two Vice-Presidents representing Anglophone and Francophone Africa.

Included in the key recommendations made in a statement at the ATF II, the group is expected to push and promote Africa’s trade and development agenda.

“As part of their commitment to promoting the trade and development agenda, journalists attending the Forum committed to forming a network they named, Journalists for Trade and Development in Africa (J-Trade Africa),” a statement issued by the ECA said.

First of its kind in Africa, J-Trade Africa will also focus on helping its members develop capacity to write about trade and other development issues with a focus on the proposed establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2017.

The group’s members will also share information and disseminate the same to their readers and viewers in their respective countries.

Mr. Dogbevi, a graduate of the University of Ghana, Legon, has been working as a journalist for 22 years. He has worked in the print, electronic and online media. He won the 2011 “Best Anti-Corruption Report”  Award of the Ghana Journalists Association.

By Ekow Quandzie