THE World Bank has approved a $90 million grant to finance the Abidjan-Lagos Trade Facilitation Project aimed at reducing trade and transportation barriers within the ECOWAS sub-region.
The project, which is the second phase of a regional programme in Ghana, Togo and Benin, would finance trade and transport facilitation activities along the 130 kilometre coastal corridor to Cote d’Ivoire.
The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor links the large and economical cities of Lagos, Accra and Abidjan.
The completion would, therefore, assist trade expansion in the import and export sector, as well as the local economies of beneficiary countries.
The Minister of Trade, Ms Hanna Tetteh, disclosed this at the launch of the 2011 Non Traditional Export (NTE) performance statistics in Accra yesterday.
The event was also used to launched the 2011 National Export awards.
Total NTE revenue in 2011 stood at $2.4 billion, a 33 per cent increase from $1.8 billion in 2010, exceeding the 25 per cent target for the period under review.
Total earnings in the sector were from three main sub-sectors, namely agriculture, processed and semi-processed foods and handicrafts.
Ms Tetteh indicated that the trade facilitation project would greatly influence Ghana’s quest to attain the $5 billion by 2015, by ensuring accessible export markets for its NTEs in the beneficiary countries.
She, however, lamented the non completion of negotiations under the ECOWAS Protocols, particularly the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS).
“It is in this light that Ghana has signed the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA), as a fall-back, in the event that ECOWAS fails to reach a consensus within the stipulated time-frame,” Ms Tetteh said.
While denying reports that the government was in the process of signing the EPA, Ms Tetteh said she was highly optimistic that the best option for Ghana and other West African countries was an ECOWAS EPA consensus, which she said would facilitate trade with the EU.
While commending the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) for making strides towards the realisation of the NTE target, Ms Tetteh announced that the Ministry was in the process of implementing a rural enterprise programme (REP), with the development of micro and small businesses across deprived district assemblies nationwide.
Under the REP programme, business advisory centres would be set up as a unit for the ministry in the promotion of trade and industry across board.
She charged GEPA officials to develop a national logistic strategy to allow traceability of products from the manufacturing point to retail units.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GEPA, Dr Kwadwo Owusu Agyemang, for his part said that although the country continued to export more products in their raw form, greater emphasis had been placed on increased research, with the set up of Ghana Trade Centres along the authority’s trade routes across the sub-region.
Dr Owusu Agyemang commended the Export Development and Agriculture Investment Fund (EDIF) for aiding the authority in sustaining the macro-development gains, and also appealed to government to set aside a percentage of the oil revenue for trade promotion purposes.
SOURCE: Della Russel Ocloo, Daily Graphic, Mon June 11, 2012
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