The call was made by Mr. Mickson Opoku of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) during a sensitization on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement organised for members of the Eastern Regional Shipper Committee (ERSC) in Koforidua on 13th April 2021 by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority .
Mr. Opoku encouraged shippers in the Region to do value addition to their exports to position them to competitively penetrate the African market with the coming into force of the AfCFTA Agreement in January 2021. He noted that value addition of export commodities would improve trade among countries in Africa and reduce the reliance on importation of goods outside the Continent.
He enumerated the several advantages of AfCFTA to include significant improvement in the terms of trade of African countries, lower prices of goods within the continent and employment opportunities for the youth in Africa and estimated that AFCTA would increase intra-African trade by $35 billion per annum.
He indicated that the 1D1F initiative by Government seeks to establish factories in districts according to the resources availability to promote value addition.
Also in Koforidua, a Team led by the Deputy Human Resource Manager, Mr. Johnson Okai of the Tema Branch, paid a courtesy call on the newly appointed Director of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, Mr. Samuel Donkor.
Mr. Okai briefed the Director on the mandate of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) and the activities of the ERSC. He also mentioned that GSA’s 2021 programme of activities include outreaches to importers and exporters in all districts of the Eastern Region to learn at first hand their shipment challenges and educate them on best practices to attain quick, safe, reliable and cost effective shipment of goods by all modes of transport.
Mr. Donkor expressed delight at the visit and assured the Branch of the Coordinating Council’s continuous support for the Authority’s activities.
