By Michael Pepsin Avorgah
Sogakope (V/R), Feb. 21, GNA -The Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry (MoTAI), with support from TradeMark Africa (TMA), has organised a two-day Public–Private Dialogue on trade facilitation in Ghana’s textiles and garments industry at the Sogakope Beach Resort.
The dialogue brought together about 40 participants, including government agencies, garment manufacturers and key trade stakeholders, to identify immediate actions to address challenges affecting trade facilitation within the sector.
Addressing the media, Mr Sampson Ahi, the Deputy Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, said the textiles and garments industry remained one of the strategic priorities under government’s industrialisation and export diversification agenda.
He said the sector holds immense potential for job creation, particularly for women and the youth, while driving value addition and positioning Ghana competitively within regional and global value chains.
He noted that garment industry players continued to face persistent challenges across the trade value chain, including customs and clearance procedures, compliance requirements, logistics bottlenecks and under-utilisation of available trade facilitation schemes.
He said these constraints increase the cost of doing business, prolong turnaround times, and undermine the sector’s competitiveness in both regional and global markets.
The Deputy Minister thanked TradeMark Africa for partnering with the Ministry to organise the dialogue and reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to working closely with the private sector and trade facilitation institutions to identify practical and workable solutions.
He indicated that a key focus of the engagement would be on the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Scheme, which offers faster clearance, reduced inspections, and greater predictability for compliant businesses.
Mr Ahi said the Ministry would explore how digital trade facilitation systems such as ICUMS could be better aligned with the operational realities of the textiles and garments sector to enhance efficiency and regulatory compliance.
Ms Harriet Gayi, the Director for West Africa and AfCFTA at TradeMark Africa, said Ghana’s garment industry stood at a pivotal moment.
She observed that although the sector had experienced significant decline from its historic peak, recent targeted interventions, most notably the rapid production of over 14 million facemasks during the COVID-19 response, demonstrated its resilience and latent industrial capacity when policy and private sector efforts are aligned.
Ms Gayi noted that the government’s textile and garment manufacturing policy provided a clear framework to develop an integrated value chain, diversify exports and create sustainable employment in line with Ghana’s broader industrialisation ambitions.
She said realising this vision required addressing persistent operational bottlenecks, including customs system downtimes, port hour misalignments, documentation delays and early gate closures.
These constraints reduce production days, increase costs, undermine delivery timelines, and ultimately affect investor confidence, she said.
Ms Gayi added that the private sector had signaled its readiness to scale up to 24-hour, three-shift production, once a predictable and enabling environment was secured.
She reaffirmed TradeMark Africa’s readiness to continue partnering with government and industry to implement practical reforms that would position Ghana as a reliable garment manufacturing hub in West Africa.
“If we act with resolve, the outcomes are clear: greater production capacity, lower costs, improved quality and export reliability, enhanced investment and sustainable job creation at scale,” she said.
The meeting aimed at proposing and implementing mutually agreed and beneficial measures to resolve clearance and export-related bottlenecks confronting industry players, while also increasing awareness and enrollment in the AEO Scheme among garment manufacturers in Ghana.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/ Christabel Addo