8th African Shippers' Day Celebration To Be Held In Ghana

The Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA), under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport, and in collaboration with the Union of African Shippers' Councils, would from Wednesday November 22, host the 8th African Shippers' Day (ASD) celebration.

The commemorative event dubbed, 'Trade Facilitation and its impact on Africa's Industrialisation', would take place at the M.T. Addico, Conference Hall, Ghana Shippers' House, Ridge, and Accra.

A statement issued by the GSA, in Accra, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the ASD had been marked biennially since 1999, when it was initiated within the framework of refocusing the missions of African Shippers' Councils.

The event, it said, had since become a platform for reflection and exchange on the diverse issues relating to maritime transport and international trade.

The statement said this year's event would reflect the World Trade Organisation's (WTO), Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), entered into in February, 2017.

'The Trade Facilitation Agreement lays down specific measures for import, export, and transit formalities, to facilitate trade in order to enhance administrative efficiency and effectiveness,' it said.

It also helps in reducing transaction cost and time, while enhancing the predictability of the global markets.'

The GSA explained that for Africa to industrialise it must move from being a producer of raw materials to a producer of finished products and value added goods.

It said if Africa must join other nations in international trade and transport, there was the need for reforms that could catapult its economies in order to be competitive and that Trade facilitation, if well implemented, could have such an impact.

The three-day programme, the statement said, would thus discuss, among others, opportunities and challenges for shippers' including the measures taken to make trade facilitation effective and how they were implemented.

Other matters also to be deliberated are the regulatory or physical barriers identified in the implementation of these measures, the corrective measures taken to enhance trade facilitation and their effectiveness, and how all these could have an impact on Africa's industrialisation moving forward.

The event is expected to be attended by participants with a stake in international trade, notably, Shippers from West and Central African countries, National Shippers' Councils, Chambers of Commerce, Port Authorities, Shipping Insurers and bankers, African and international organisations.

GNA
By Emmanuel Kwame Donkor/ Doris Amenyo, GNA