World Trade Centre (WTC) Accra is commemorating the12th anniversary of the September 11 bombing of the World Trade Centre twin towers in New York, U.S with a short candle-lit ceremony at the World Trade Centre building in Accra.
The ceremony is scheduled for 12.00pm and will be
attended by the Chairman of the board of WTC Accra, Togbe Afede XIV; management
and staff of WTC Accra; tenants in the WTC Accra building; and a few other
invited guests.
Mr.
Emmanuel Doni-Kwame, Managing Director of the World Trade Centre, Accra, explained
that members of the World Trade Centre Association identify strongly with
events of the September 11 attack in the USA.
He revealed that the World Trade Centre Accra
will be launched soon and Ghanaian businesses can start enjoying the same
quality services they access in other World Trade Centres around the globe.
Ghana is a member of
WTCA and plans are nearly complete for launching a fully-fledged World Trade
Centre in Accra.
“Today, the WTCA is
acknowledged by many people to be among the most relevant international organisations
in the world, representing every major trading area in the world and servicing
more than 500,000 companies in the field of international commerce,” he said.
World Trade Centre -- How it
all began.
In
1959, under the chairmanship of David Rockefeller, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan
Association initiated a mission to construct a permanent building to serve as
the gathering place for all agencies and players of what he saw as a coming
explosion in international trade.
The
building was seen as a place ‘The United States, foreign business and financial
interest can meet to do business; where representatives of the United States
and foreign government are available for consultation and aid; where facilities
are available to expedite business transactions’.
To
finance and build such a project, the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association
turned to the state agency, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to
review the feasibility of such a project.
On
March10, 1961, the Port Authority issued a report that endorsed the feasibility
of the Rockefeller vision and justified it as a viable public project because
it would serve as a catalyst for business growth and increase employment and
net revenue to the city from augmented economic activity.
This
conclusion was met with fierce opposition from other stakeholders, especially
merchants and the public in the proposed area who were to be displaced.
In
1963, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed the public-purpose nature of the project
before construction of the World Trade Centre could eventually begin in downtown
New York City.
In 1973, the dream of
David Rockefeller became a reality and his brother, the-then Governor of the
state of New York Nelson Rockefeller, dedicated the 120-story iconic dual
structure known as the World Trade Centre -- also known as the Twin Towers.
In
February 1962, a young engineer with the Port Authority celebrating his 40th
birthday was told by his boss, Mr. Austin Tobin “you’re going to build the
trade centre”. That man was Guy Tozzoli.
Guy
Tozzoli was appointed the Director of the World Trade Department in February
1962, and he was responsible for the planning, construction and rental
operation of the World Trade Centre in New York. Mr. Tozzoli chose Minori Yamasaki as the
architect for the project.
Mr.
Tozolli is quoted as telling Mr. Yamasaki: “President Kennedy is going to put a
man on the moon. You’re going to figure a way to build me the tallest building
in the world”.
After
more than 100 designs, Mr. Tozzoli and the Port Authority signed off the Twin
Tower design. The building and rental
project involved 15 million square feet of floor area distributed over seven
buildings including the two 110-story towers, the tallest in the world at that
time.
In
1970, Mr. Tozzoli led in founding the World Trade Centre’s Association (WTCA)
and was elected the association’s first President. In 1987, after 41 years of
service, he retired from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to serve
as full-time President and Board Member of WTCA, with an office on the 77th
Floor of the North Tower.
That
was where he was headed on September 11, 2001, hoping to make a 9.00am
meeting. As he approached the Holland
Tunnel entrance, he saw smoke pouring from a gash in the tower, not far from
his office. Thinking that it was a fault
with the building, he said in a grave voice “it is going to take a long time
for us to fix that”. The people around him did not answer. Then the second plane struck!
Today,
there are over 330 World Trade Centres across the globe in over 100
countries. These trade centres come
together to form the World Trade Centre’s Association.
World
Trade Centre Associations (WTCA)
The vision of David
Rockefeller was not just a building but a place where international business
services would be provided; communication among related businesses would be
facilitated; and a supportive network built, all as a means of bringing value
to the city.
To make this happen,
the Port Authority arranged a meeting in April 1968 in New Orleans. The purpose
was to bring together like-minded cities in other parts of the USA and the
world that saw the same benefits of the trade centre concept to consider ways
of providing mutual assistance. The
cities were Amsterdam, Antwerp, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Rotterdam and
Tokyo.
The goals of the
group were:
·
To
promote international business relationships
·
To
encourage mutual Assistance
·
To
foster increased participation in world trade by developing nations
The result of this
vision was creation of the World Trade Centres Association, incorporated in
Delaware. In its first formal meeting in Tokyo in 1970, Guy Tozzoli was elected
as a volunteer leader until his retirement from the Port Authority in 1987,
when he became the Association’s first and current president until his death.
The essential relationship between a prominent
building and support services to promote trade was conceived from the beginning
and continues today in the 40-year life of the World Trade Centres Association.
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