West African countries urged to intensify trade among themselves

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry,  Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, has called on countries within the West African sub-region to intensify their efforts at increasing trade among themselves.

This move, he explained, was more profitable, predictable and sustainable than reliance on hand outs in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Speaking at the launch of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report for 2013 in Accra yesterday, Mr Vanderpuye said since FDI in the African economy was declining, there was the need for countries to team up strongly to remove barriers that hampered economic trade in the sub-region.

The 240-page report focused on global value chains (GVCs) and their roles in development and the provision of key economic intelligence for policymakers and other investment stakeholders. The World Investment Report 2013 is titled, 'Global value chains: Investment and trade for development'.

Mr Vanderpuye said: 'Since FDI for African countries is dwindling, we now have to look within the region to see how best we could build our value chain and improve on our economic activities. We cannot continue to depend on what we do not have'

According to him, the government had signed many agreements and made tremendous efforts to ensure free-flow of goods and services within the sub-region, adding that 'the problem is lack of goodwill and legal framework from other stakeholders'.

Mr Vanderpuye, therefore, asked Ghanaian industries to partner the government to expand and improve the standard of products in the country.

The reports said global FDI flows declined by 18 per cent in 2012, below the pre-economic crisis level, due mainly to economic fragility and policy uncertainty for investors.

It also said for the first time, developing economies absorbed more FDI than developed countries.  In addition, they generated almost one third of global FDI outflows.

The report argued that to move up these value chains, developing nations must better co-ordinate their investment and trade policies.

By Dominic Moses Awiah