As part of efforts to improve trade competitiveness and to make Ghana the hub of business in West Africa, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has said that government is introducing reforms in Ghana’s ports.

According to Dr. Bawumia, the country's ports have become bottlenecks in Ghana’s trade because they do not meet international standard.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of a two-day National Policy Summit which featured the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Tuesday, Dr. Bawumia insisted Ghana needs to improve operations at the ports to enable easy trade relations.

“Our aim is to change operations at the port so that we can meet international standard and to improve our trade competitiveness,” he stressed.

To this end, he said government will eradicate all barriers that businesses encounter at the ports.

He disclosed that Tema Port has experienced some of the changes and starting from September 1, 2017, the facility will move from the paper-based to a largely paperless system.

He, however, warned that “We will not tolerate the inexplicable charges, delays, lack of transparency and overall complexity in the operations at the port. We’re moving from the system of applying substandard and unnecessary complex procedures at the port to a system which meets international standards and is in conformity with trade facilitation agreements.”