Fifth border information center in West Africa launched

The Ministers of Transport of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, joined by the U.S. Ambassadors to Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, have launched the fifth Border Information Center in West Africa at Elubo on the Ghana-Ivorian border.

A press statement from the Public Affairs section of the US Embassy in Ghana which was copied to the Ghana News Agency at the weekend, said the USAID Business Environments for Agile Markets and the USAID West Africa Trade Hub, in close collaboration with the Ivoirian Shippers’ Council and the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, are implementing the new Center.

The statement said the Borderless Alliance, a private sector-led coalition of regional trading companies established in 2011, also supports the centers.

It quoted U.S. Ambassador Phillip Carter III as saying, “Economic growth is a key pillar to the U.S. Government’s Africa development policy.

The Border Information Center initiative, launched with ECOWAS and other partners, represents our commitment to working alongside African countries to promote and advance sustained economic development and growth”.

The new Center provides practical information to traders where they need it most at the border. The Border Information Center is modeled on the successful Border Information Centers at the borders of Benin-Nigeria, Burkina Faso-Ghana, Ghana-Togo, and at Senegal’s Port of Dakar.

According to the statement, the Centers also helped stakeholders identify the causes of delays and harassment, and inspired action to significantly reduce such delays and harassment.

The Shippers’ Councils of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are hosting the new Center which is now open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the statement added.