Workshop On WTO Rules Opens In Accra

Accra, - A two-day technical workshop on the rules and implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement opened in Accra today. The over 50 participants from various sectors, including the private sector, financial institutions, exporters, customs and the shipping agencies, will mainly focus on customs valuation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary measures and services under the WTO agreement. The WTO, a permanent institution which serves as a watchdog of the global trading system, has about 131 member-states which operate under its agreement. The agreement is a set of multilateral rules and trade negotiations which has reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers to goods, extended world trading rules to new areas such as services and provided for further trade liberalisation in many sectors. It has also provided a predictable and growing access to markets, promoted fair competition among member-states and encouraged development and economic reforms. Dr John Abu, Minister of Trade and Industry, in his opening remarks, said it is against this background that Ghana, which is an active member of the WTO, is doing a lot to stay within the framework of the organization to enhance its free market policy. Dr Abu said government is determined to level the field for investors and break the barriers to expand trade. "It is the order of the day if you want to do business globally... and once you are able to break through the initial barriers, your trade volumes will increase," Dr Abu said. The Minister said the workshop is timely and relevant "because the agreement is made up of complex issues which need to be understood in line with Ghana's industrialisation programme." Ms Janet Chakarian, Economic Affairs Officer, Market Access Division of the WTO who is also leading a three-man expert team to the workshop, said the two-and-a-half-year-old WTO has increased the volume of world merchandise trade by about four per cent. Under the WTO agreement, the value of Africa's exports and imports for the first time since 1990 expanded more rapidly than the total world trade, a WTO source said.