this ties in with our proposals to refocus wama so it can also deliver most efficiently on the objectives behind its establishment. the ecowas sub - region has for long championed the cause of economic and monetary integration. we are now at a stage where we need to take stock of our activities to examine the record of what we have been able to achieve as a sub - region and develop strategies for the way forward, to build on stabilization, to accelerate growth and become significant participants in international trade and capital flows. fellow governors, i know that most of you were here in accra during the meetings of the association of african central banks. but i would still like to formally inform the committee that ghana, as a member of our group assumed the chairmanship of the association for 2005 / 2006. this is a challenge. your continued support, advice and collaboration during my 1 / 2 chairmanship of the association would be essential to move the cooperation arrangements significantly forward. the issues that confront us at these meetings are all too familiar and this may suggest that we are not trying hard enough on the policy front in dealing with these issues over time. today, some of the issues on the agenda go to the core of the integration strategy, therefore i hope we can use this opportunity for serious discussions on integration in the sub - region as we look to the task ahead. on this note fellow governors, let us all have fruitful deliberations. i hope you enjoy your stay in accra. thank you for your attention. 2 / 2

, accounted for 20, 590 passengers and 257 passengers compared with 21, 272 passengers and 241 passengers in the previous quarter, respectively. 25. on an annual basis, international arrivals at the country ’ s four international airports increased to 679, 172 passengers from 438, 788 passengers recorded in 2009, representing an increase of 20. 27 %. investment 26. total investment pledges were estimated at us $ 1. 0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with us $ 110. 4 million in the third quarter. on a sectoral basis, pledges in manufacturing were us $ 377. 3 million, real estate ( us $ 264. 0 million ), agro - processing ( us $ 252. 4 million ), services ( us $ 31. 3 million ), agriculture ( us $ 25. 3 million ), tourism ( us $ 16. 7 million ), construction ( us $ 11. 8 million ), ict ( us $ 8. 8 million ), and mining ( us $ 93. 0 million ). 27. the pledges when fully executed are expected to generate 22, 532 jobs ( 1, 726 jobs : third quarter 2010 ) with the highest contribution from services at 12, 763 jobs followed by agro - processing at 5, 860 jobs. the rest were manufacturing ( 1, 882 jobs ), construction ( 847 jobs ), agriculture ( 397 jobs ), tourism ( 343 jobs ), real estate ( 247 jobs ), ict ( 157 jobs ) and mining ( 14 jobs ). 28. investment pledges for the year 2010 increased by 138. 6 % to us $ 4, 791. 6 million from us $ 2, 008. 4 million recorded in 2009. real gross domestic product ( gdp ) 3 29. preliminary estimates indicate that gross domestic product ( gdp ) rose by 7. 1 % in 2010 from 6. 4 % in 2009. this outturn was well above the target of 5 % announced by the minister of finance and national planning in his 2010 budget speech. 30. the gdp outturn was largely attributed to the growth in the agricultural, construction and mining sectors. the 2010 agricultural harvest was the highest recorded in history, having produced over 2. 8 million mt of maize ; while the mining sector also benefitted from higher copper prices and production levels. the growth in the construction sector emanated from increased residential, commercial and public infrastructure construction projects across the country by both government and the private