Trade policies must reflect international trade environment

Accra, Oct. 23, GNA - Mr Kwadwo Afrram Asiedu, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives, on Thursday said Ghana's commercial strategies and trade policies had to be updated to reflect the anticipated shift in the international trading environment. He said the rapid expansion of electronic transactions was a major opportunity for trade and development to reach new levels of international competitiveness.

He was speaking in Accra at the Fifth Parcel Conference being held under the theme: "The Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS); Challenges and the Way Forward," organised by DHL, an international express and logistics courier service provider.

Mr Asiedu said in keeping with government's objective to meet the challenges of increasing worldwide competition so as to enhance Ghana's attractiveness as a trade and investment destination, it re-examined the country's development strategy to take advantage of opportunities offered by the IT industry.

He said it was for this reason that the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) and the GCNET system among other measures were instituted under the Government's Gateway Programme, to make the country an attractive business destination in the West Africa Sub-Region for investors.

He said for a total of 9,593 declarations that were processed through the GCNET system at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) 75 per cent were cleared within two to four hours because of the time and cost saving IT based system.

He said, even though, a number of discrepancies had decreased revenue collections its enhanced objectives were being realized through the GCNET system.

He said to address some of the discrepancies in revenue collection through the GCNET system, all courier companies at KIA had to be connected to the system to remove any possible source of revenue leakage.

The Deputy Minister said government would not relent in its efforts to support courier companies and urged the DHL to continue to use KIA to haul huge volumes of freight across the West African Sub-Region.

Mr Nortey Omaboe, Executive Chairman of the GCNET, said government revenue from the Ports since the implementation of the GCNET project had increased substantially.

"So far, the results are extremely good. The results would of course be even better if we all, especially importers and freight forwarders, were to understand and accept the importance of compliance, within the import process", he said.

Brigadier Richard Baiden, Commissioner, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) noted that the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had altered international relations and the way global business was conducted.

He said ICT had provided the platform for countries, corporate entities and individuals to do business expeditiously and cost effectively.

Brig. Baiden said the introduction of the GCMS/GCNET system was to enable CEPS to focus on the practical challenges of free flow of goods and services from abroad.

He said the main strategic directions of CEPS in the coming years would be to design and implement an ICT infrastructure capable of withstanding the information and data needs of the Service and other stakeholders such as the DHL.

He reiterated CEPS determination to enhance competitiveness through effective service delivery.

Mr Jean-Alfred Anodjo, DHL's West Africa Zonal General Manager, said the Government's introduction of the GCNET system would facilitate trade and promote Ghana as the preferred gateway to West Africa.

Mr Anodjo said that due to the recent shift in markets from document to parcel and related services such as logistics, the management and expertise in customs import clearance, handling and administration, mastering of the supply chain would become a competitive edge and the key differentiating element in the express and logistics industry.

The conference is to provide a platform for revenue mobilisation agencies to meet a cross-section of importers to educate them on the GCNET system introduced by government to simplify customs procedures and to reduce the cost of doing business.

The forum was also for DHL, Ghana to showcase the services of the "New DHL", a merger of three companies- Deutsche Post; European Express Service, former DHL, an international express courier and Danzas, a worldwide logistic company - launched in 2002 to importers. DHL Ghana commenced its operations in 1985 as the very first courier company in the country.