GNCCI pushes for stronger ECOWAS trade

The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) is pushing for a deeper collaboration to promote trade between neighbouring ECOWAS countries and the European Union.

The project involves the establishment of a platform for networking to improve cross-border economic ties between member companies of the national chambers of Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Mr. Emmanuel Doni –Kwame, acting Chief Executive Officer, GNCCI making a presentation at a two-day validation workshop on Enhancing the Capacity of Ghanaian Private sector in Accra said: “The GNCCI will continue to work with counterpart chambers in the sub-region to influence policy decisions and enforcement in the removal of barriers that hinder the smooth transit of goods.”

Mr. Doni-Kwame urged ECOWAS to facilitate discussions among the customs administrations to enable harmonisation and interconnectivity of systems and deployment of single customs administrative document to ensure that insurance bond guarantees are valid from warehouse to warehouse along the corridors.

“Businesses often complain of excessive barriers at the borders, which impede efforts at transporting goods within the sub-region,” he said.
The workshop among other objectives was to foster economic and trade ties among member states.

It was also to intensify the knowledge on the ECOWAS economic integration process whiles promoting the utilization of the country as transhipment centre for export and import trade to boost cross-border trade.

It also focused on identify the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of GNCCI and other related issues that impede GNCCI from achieving its objective of enhancing the performance of its member companies, to be committed to efforts to improve trade flows between Ghana and its neighbouring countries within the framework of ECOWAS regional integration process.

Participants discussed various challenges and business opportunities between Ghana and its neighbouring countries, in response to the collective drive of achieving the borderless ECOWAS.