Former GIFF president calls for freight forwarders to be educated on AfCFTA

A member of the ICUMS Implementation Team, Joseph Agbaga, has stated that it is unfortunate that the freight-forwarders who play an intermediary role between the businesses and government have not been well educated.

“As at now, they (freight forwarders) are not seeing any move towards giving them any message or education about what they are to do, because of the sensitive position the freight forwarders play,” he said.

Speaking on Eye on Port, he stated that considering the crucial role that freight forwarders play in the clearance chain, it will be proper for them to be well educated on the AfCFTA.

Touching on other issues, he asked that export documents required to facilitate trading under the AFCTA be made public.

Speaking on the same programme, the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Ghana Emmanuel Doni-Kwame said a digital trading platform called Mansa has been launched to enable businesses to check the backgrounds of those they want to do business with.

He said the ICC Ghana has also created a digital platform to bring together buyers and sellers to start engagements and encourage SMEs to take advantage and register.

The Executive Director of the AfCTFA Policy Network, Louis Yaw Afful commended Ghana for making a good strive by setting up the Local AfCFTA Coordination Office which was part of the recommendations given by the African Ministers of Trade.

He revealed that Egypt has devoted an amount of 20billion dollars to the AfCFTA project.

Emmanuel Doni-Kwame also revealed that by July 2021 all the aspects of the continental trading should be running effectively.

He said there are some digital platforms that have been rolled out to ensure that payments are made electronically without challenges.

The ICC Ghana Secretary-General recommended that all regulatory agencies should be allowed to perform their functions effectively before the Certificate of Origin is issued for any product.

The former GIFF President Joseph Agbaga also called for the simplification of the rule of origin for businesses.