Let's remove trade barriers across West Africa - Rasmussen

Tema, June 2, GNA - Mr Niels Rasmussen, Transport Director of the West Africa Trade Hub, has said removal of unnecessary checkpoints along West Africa's primary corridors would facilitate movement of goods and people and help reduce the cost of trucking.

He said governments, civil society groups and the private sector should act quickly to reduce the numerous checkpoints along the roads. Mr Rasmussen said this at a Road Show organised by three organisations monitoring road harassment in West Africa to sensitize stakeholders in the trade and transport industry in Tema on the need to be efficient and cost-effective.

The organisations are the West Africa Trade Hub, the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization and the Agribusiness and Trade Promotion. Mr Rasmussen said since the effects of road harassment were far more extensive than just time and money lost, the first and foremost step to bring about change and reduce harassment was for drivers to lodge complaints with the authorities about road harassment. He said delays at checkpoints did not only keep the drivers away from home for a longer period but also added days to trips and made them to indulge in promiscuous activities.

Touching on the road harassment project of the three organisations dubbed "Borderless," Mr Rasmussen said it is aimed at removing barriers in West Africa and that it started four years ago in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali and had extended to Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire.

Mr Yaya Yedan, Transport Economist at the Burkina Shippers' Council in Ghana, said it was important to remove trade barriers in West Africa because inefficient transport and trade barriers resulted in higher prices of goods.

Mr Yedan said trade barriers discouraged investors and since investment was the key to creating jobs in West Africa, governments in the sub-region should leave no stone unturned to discourage the erection of barriers.

He expressed concern about cumbersome procedures and excessive documentation alongside the numerous trade barriers and said these negative tendencies resulted in unpredictable shipping times. Mr Yedan appealed to member-states of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme to implement it uniformly in order to derive its benefits that included greater economic growth, more jobs and lower consumer prices. Responding to complaints from truck drivers about persistent harassments by security agencies at checkpoints, Captain Anthony Cudjoe (Rtd), a member of the Tema Port branch of National Security, advised truck drivers to guard against fictitious travelling documents so that security agencies could not take advantage to extort monies from them. 02 June 10