By Laudia Sawer
Tema, May 26, GNA – Dr Rmmanuel Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber of Shipping, has called for the interconnection of the various regional economic blocs or communities in Africa to enable the continent to achieve the objectives of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Dr Mbiah said even though AfCFTA was a brilliant idea following the indicators that show that economies are driven by trade, Africa would be able to achieve its aim of a free trade area without first creating interconnection between the blocs.
“It starts from somewhere, but we are not connected in the first place. To what extent are ECOWAS (Economic Community of West Africa States), ECCAS (Economic Community of Central Africa), or SADC (Southern African Development Community Central) working? Then you can bring them to integrate.”
He was speaking at a media forum powered by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) on the theme “Ensuring Higher Efficiency in Ghana’s Shipping Industry: Perspectives from the Private Sector.”
He said free trade goes beyond moving one cargo from Ghana to another country at a time, stressing that the trade flows must be continuous, indicating that Africa has had a number of trade schemes and protocols, including the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme and the Protocol on Free Movement of Goods and Persons, yet there has not been any integration among them.
He disclosed that there was a huge deficit in infrastructure, emphasising that without collectivity and infrastructure, Africa could not have a free trade area that works.
“Even West Africa, we have not yet integrated; the infrastructure is poor, the connectivity is poor. Today, everybody is on the internet; to what extent are we connected? Aluminum coils from Cameroon must go to Europe and come back to West African countries as shipping lines look at the benefits and the volumes,” he added.
He added that “We must work on the connectivity, internet working properly, infrastructure being there, and air linkages. Now, if you are going to Cabo Verde, it will be better to go to Portugal than to use here, which will take you like three days.”
Adam Imoro Ayarna, Executive Member, Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana (SOAAG), stated that there was also the need for integration and liberalisation of the customs system to leverage the AfCFTA.
He said governments should be looking at developing the rail and cooperating with those with vessels to have a seamless and gradual process of migrating to where Africa wants to be, stressing that “we have to handle the human movement, then we can easily do so with cargoes.”
GNA
Laudia Sawer/Kenneth Odeng Adade