Ghana wins banana war

The Accra Mail carries that the Minister of Finance Yaw Osafo Maafo returned from the just ended Africa Caribbean Pacific/European Union conference on Saturday with good news for the country's troubled banana industry.

"The banana war between Ghana, a non-traditional exporter and the European Union, which had raged for several years, had ended".

The Mail says during the period of quota system Ghana had to buy quotas from traditional exporters like Cote d'Ivoire before she could export to Europe, which almost brought the banana industry to its knees and set the EU and Ghana on a collision course.

However, beaming with smiles at a press briefing on Monday, Maafo Announced the abolishment of quota system that restricted entry of Ghana's banana to European markets.

Ghana could therefore, now export any quantity of banana to any European market form July 1, 2001.

"We have now to be competitive and produce quality banana to penetrate the European market," the Minister said.