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Borderless Alliance News, April 2014

Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon. Clement Kofi Humado, has reiterated his country’s commitment to ensuring free flow of goods and persons in the West Africa region as stipulated in the vision of the Economic Commu-nity of West African States (ECOWAS). He said free flow of trade is of paramount importance and relevant, particularly that, for some time now, there has been so much emphasis on regional solidarity to strengthen regional integration by linking various markets in the region. These were contained in a keynote address read on his behalf during a one–day workshop organized by the Permanent Intestate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), in collaboration with the Borderless Alliance, in Accra, April 3, 2014. The workshop was on road harassment activities on the major corridors of Ghana with regard to the free flow of agricultural products. It brought together representatives from private sector organizations, Ministries, Customs, Police, regional organizations, USAID/West Africa, tech-nical and financial partners, among others.

Hon. Humado underscored the importance of trade. “Trade contributes significantly to the management of food secu-rity at the local, national and regional levels and also goes a long way to contribute to the reduction of rural poverty,” he said. Participants resolved to implement recommendations made during the workshop in order to ensure free flow of goods across borders in the West Africa region.

IN-TRANSIT April 2014

⇒ Ghana committed to removing trade barriers in West Africa ⇒ ECOWAS Harmonizes quality standards to boost regional trade ⇒ Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs commends Borderless Alliance

and West Africa Trade Hub

One of the objectives of the Economic Commu-nity of West African States (ECOWAS) is to promote cooperation and integration leading to the creation of an economic and monetary union in West Africa. It is against this backdrop that the West African Common I n d u s t r i a l P o l i c y

(WACIP) was adopted by Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS at the 38th Ordinary Session of their summit in Sal, Cape Verde, on July 2, 2010. WACIP proposes, among other priority programs, the es-tablishment of a regional quality infrastructure with a framework for a Regional Quality Policy (ECOQUAL), which was adopted at the 42nd Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire,

February 27 – 28, 2013. This policy aims at establishing a framework for developing and operating an appropriate, relevant and effective quality infrastructure to facilitate intra-regional and international trade. This is to protect consumers and the environment and also to promote sus-tainable economic development. In addition, the policy provides an essential basis for the development and harmonization of national policies to guide quality implementation of national quality, effective and well-tailored infrastructure which is internationally recognized. According to Mr. Désiré Ouedraogo, President of the ECOWAS Commission, the contribution of the policy is very significant. “The implementation of this quality pol-icy contributes to achieving the integration process and to giving real meaning to the citizens, especially in boosting intra-regional trade that will, in turn, improve the well-being of consumers,” he said.

ECOWAS HARMONIZES QUALITY STANDARDS TO BOOST REGIONAL TRADE

GHANA COMMITTED TO REMOVING TRADE BARRIERS IN WEST AFRICA

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Borderless Alliance News, April 2014

GHANA’S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMENDS BORDERLESS ALLIANCE AND WEST AFRICA TRADE HUB

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integra-tion, Hon. Hannah Tetteh, has lauded the efforts of the Borderless Alliance and the West Africa Trade Hub in fa-cilitating and promoting trade in the West Africa region. Delivering her open-ing address at a two-day dialogue session on Challenges of Bor-der Crossing and Op-portunities for Trade and Finance for ECOWAS countries held in Accra, Ghana, on April 24 – 25, 2014, the Minister also challenged other stakeholders to con-tribute meaningfully to the free movement of persons and goods in the region. Organized by the National Institute for Legislative Studies, in collaboration with the Africa Capacity Building Foun-dation (ACBF) and the ECOWAS Parliament, the event brought together over a hundred participants, includ-ing members of the ECOWAS Parliament, National Chambers of Commerce from across the region, Customs, Police, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Some key areas of discussion included effective management of bor-der posts, reducing check points and addressing infrastruc-tural issues and other factors hampering trade. Specific objectives included the creation of greater awareness and understanding among legislators in ECOWAS and the de-

velopment of appropriate regulatory framework for effec-tive engagement by ECOWAS and international trading partners. Presenting the opening paper on “Obstacles to Border

Crossing in West Africa,” Business Environment Advi-sor to the Border-less Alliance, Dr. Sola Afolabi, un-derscored the need to have free inter-nal borders. “There is the need to fa-cilitate passage through our inter-nal borders whilst strengthening our external borders. This would be a sure way of ena-

bling the region to achieve the desired growth and integra-tion,” he said. Key observations made during the discussions in-cluded the need for ECOWAS to involve other regional organizations and CSOs in the process of regional integra-tion, as well as the need to intensify efforts to encourage the free movement of professionals across the region. Recommendations included the need for ECOWAS to de-velop strategies to address the non-application of ECOWAS directives by member states and to further de-velop suitable protocols related to export standards with the aim of improving access to global markets.

Borderless Alliance Jubilee House, 4th Street, Kuku Hill, Osu, Accra, Ghana

Tel: +233 302 762696/ +233 302 762935

Email: info@borderlesswa.com Website: www.borderlesswa.com

It is said that “Unity is Strength.” This explains why the Borderless Alliance has established and continues to establish membership in countries across the West Africa region. One key aim of the Borderless Alliance is to harmonize and pro-mote the activities of its members so, together, they can all speak with one voice. This systematic organization of activities is, probably, what has seen the Alliance growing from strength to strength within the short period of its exis-tence. To give expression to the harmonization and promotion of the activities of its members, Borderless Alliance compiled the list of registered members so far, contact details and their activities in one catchy and well-designed docu-ment titled BORDERLESS ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY. Download the directory and other reports from the borderless website @ www.borderlesswa.com.