The Chief Executive Officer of WestBlue Consulting, Mrs. Valentina Mintah has added her voice to calls for the speedy ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement to further enhance the free flow of trade to and from the country as well as with neighbouring countries.
According to her, when ratified and implemented, the country stood to rake in tremendous benefits including increase in government and export revenue and improved trade facilitation.
Speaking in solidarity with the Coalition for Trade Facilitation, a group led by the private sector with the aim of ensuring improved trade facilitation in the country, Mrs. Mintah opined that the ratification of the Agreement would further demonstrate Ghana’s commitment at ensuring free flow of trade in the country while enhancing the country’s export drive.
The Coalition for Trade Facilitation which encapsulate the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, the Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana Employers’ Association, The Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters, the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders and the Ghana Union of Traders Association among others, believe the Agreement if ratified would help turn around the fortunes of the export sector and particularly revenues accruing from that sector.
The Agreement will be operational after two-thirds of the World Trade Organisation’s 162 member countries complete their domestic ratification processes and indications are that, as of March 2016, some 80 member countries had ratified the Agreement in their respective countries.
Of the number, only 7 countries with the exclusion of Ghana were able to ratify the Agreement, an indication that some 33 more countries, Ghana inclusive are yet to ratify the Agreement from the African continent.
Immediate past president of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Mr. Joseph Agbaga in a telephone interview with the Maritime and Transport Digest (M&TD) confirmed that the Coalition was bent on getting government to ratify the Agreement as soon as possible since the benefits to be derived from it was huge and enormous.
‘’I am aware that the cabinet memo to its effect is presently at the Ministry of Trade and Industry awaiting action and we are appealing to the powers-that-be to deal with it expeditiously and with a sense of urgency’’ he told the M&TD.
Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, Emmanuel Doni-kwame expatiating on the Agreement pointed out that it was enshrined with provisions that sought to deal with issues pertaining to the release and clearance of goods including goods in transit and the movement of cargo, adding that the Agreement also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other relevant agencies on trade facilitation as well as issues relating to compliance.
Explaining further, he noted that it will also deal with matters that have to do with technical assistance and capacity building among others.
Ghana’s quest at enhancing and improving trade facilitation in recent times has not been in doubt as is evidenced in the work that West Blue Consulting is currently doing with regards to clearance of cargo from the ports.
The company since last year has been at the forefront of championing trade facilitation in the country through the successful implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS), a component of the Ghana National Single Window Project.
Numerous industry players including importers, exporters and clearing agents have since the implementation of the project attested to the fact that the generation of the Customs Classification ad Valuation Reports (CCVR’s) are now done within the shortest possible time unlike previously when it took several days and even weeks to generate under the Destination Inspection Scheme.
