News

The Trade Centres will serve as centres for the display of physical Non-Traditional Exports (NETs) products, trade-related information outlets for made-in-Ghana goods, as well as for gathering market intelligence to feed exporters.

 

Kwadwo Owusu Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEPC announced this in Accra last week, during the launch of Ecobank Ghana Regional Trade Solutions. The trade solutions products enable exporters transact businesses through any Ecobank branches in Africa.

 

According to him, apart from the establishment of the Trade Centres, GEPC has planned four solo exhibitions to take place in these four countries in the course of the year, which are intended to provide a sub-regional foothold, especially in Anglophone West African countries.

 

Business Week learnt that it is the expectation of GEPC that the implementation of these activities will lead to growth in the NTEs in the next couple of years to propel them to their Ghȼ5 billion target by 2015.

 

‘Be we don’t only find markets for our exporters: GEPC also builds the marketing and managerial skills of exporters to enhance their export operations through the Council’s Ghana Export School’, said Agyeman.

 

He noted that over 8,000 members of the exporter community have benefited from the capacity building programmes run by the school. ‘We are in the process of seeking approval from the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MOTI) to develop the export school into a West Africa Export School to attract participants from West African countries especially and beyond. It is our hope that this expansion will facilitate the trade liberalization scheme and help ease West African trade barriers,’ he added.

 

Also, Agyeman stated that GEPC is working with a number of agencies to mainstream services export into National Trade Policies and Schemes.

 

With this the Council is strategizing in this regard to promote Ghanaian services particularly in educational, medical and construction sectors to the West African sub-region where the skills and expertise of Ghanaian professionals are in high demand.

 

In order to facilitate services export, the Council has established a Services Export Desk charged with the responsibility to coordinate the Council’s collaborative efforts with other stakeholders to ensure that the objectives of services export promotion are achieved.