Emmanuel Doni-Kwame
Ghana is working tirelessly to ensure that it implements the Trade Facilitation Agreements (TFA) in the not-too-distant future.
Bright Awuye, a trade facilitation expert, who disclosed this on Tuesday in Accra at a day’s stakeholder workshop organised by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Ghana chapter, said Ghana was hoping that by the end of 2022 the trade facilitation reforms in the country would decrease the time for clearance of imports, exports and transit to 48 hours; reduce the cost of doing business and cross border trade by 40%, and improve Ghana’s position among the top 100 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Ranking through improved efficiency and risk management.
In 2017, Ghana was ranked 154 out of 189 countries in the World Bank Doing Business – Trade Across Borders Ranking.
Regarding the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, which measures the performance of 160 countries, Ghana improved from 125th position in 2007 to 88th in 2016.
Ghana ratified Trade Facilitation Agreements (TFAs) on January 4, 2017 after which the TFA entered into force on February 22, 2017 accentuated by NTFC – Article 23.2 (WTO TFA).
Explaining further, Mr. Awuye indicated that a technical committee of Cabinet needed to adopt the roadmap to ensure political support of the trade facilitation reforms.
He said a Ghana Trade Facilitation Working Group, which had been put in place, must also work to mobilize resources for the implementation of the roadmap, supervise the creation of technical groups for the implementation of the activities, prepare and present midterm and final evaluations to the Technical Committee of the Cabinet, as well as draft a new roadmap by the end of 2022.
The trade facilitation expert revealed that the goals and activities in the NTF roadmap are in line with the three recommendations of Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia’s port efficiency project notable among which are the facilitation of the movement of goods and services to make Ghana’s ports more competitive.
Government wants a joint mandatory inspection of containers to eliminate the multiplicity of roles in the clearance process, eliminate all paper transaction and work on funding – domestic and external – to fast track the TF Road Map.
Also, the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MoTI) is expected to engage other MMDAs and the private sector in implementing the roadmap.
Emmanuel Doni-Kwame, Secretary General of ICC Ghana, in an address, said the TFA is a landmark global trade agreement which could provide a boost to global trade flows of over $1 trillion.
He said two-thirds of WTO member states have now ratified the TFA, with Rwanda, Chad, Oman, Jordan becoming the latest of 110 countries to ratify the agreement.
“Reaching this threshold means the TFA now becomes an official part of the multilateral trading system, which covers more than 96 percent of global GDP. The TFA is the first multilateral trade agreement to enter into force in over two decades and aims to make trade easier and simpler by cutting red tape at the borders.
“ICC has estimated that the deal could support the creation of some 20 million jobs worldwide-the vast majority in developing countries.”
By Samuel Boadi