Ms Benonita Bismarck
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), Benonita Bismarck, has called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders in the country’s shipping industry to help address challenges facing exporters.
According to her, Ghana’s over-reliance on the export of raw materials, the lack of value addition to raw materials and the apparent neglect or low levels of export of Non-Traditional Exports (NTEs), all contributed to the numerous problems encountered by exporters.
She said the development of the new National Export Strategy, spearheaded by GEPA, was expected to draw viable strategies to fall within the context of the National Industrial Transformation Agenda.
Ms Bismarck made the appeal in a speech read on her behalf on Thursday in Tamale during the sixth Exporters’ Forums organised by her outfit to build the capacity of exporters across the country.
The forum provided an opportunity for the exporters to raise their challenges in the export value chain with the various state agencies while their representatives took turns to provide redress.
The forum, held under the theme, “Overcoming Trade Barriers to Enhance Exports in the Northern Sector, the Role of Stakeholders”, comes after previous ones organized in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Somanya and Bolgatanga.
Scores of exporters of shea-nuts, shea butter, mango, yam, agrochemicals, seedlings, leather works and smocks participated in the one-day event.
Officials from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Police Service gave a presentation on “Export Procedures for NTEs and other Related Products” and “Road Governance, Transport and Trade Facilitation” respectively.
The exporters were also sensitised on the National Export Strategy and its relevance to their businesses by an official of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA). Representatives from the Ghana Standards Authority, Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) also took the exporters through their respective roles in the promotion of Ghana’s exports.
BY Samuel Boadi