Ghana expects to earn one billion dollars export revenue in 2007

Kumasi, Sept.12, GNA - Ghana expects to earn one billion dollars from non-traditional exports this year, Mr Edward Collins Boateng, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) has said.

He said this would represent a growth of 12.1 percent from 892 million dollars obtained last year.

Mr Boateng was addressing a seminar on export marketing fundamentals for 61 potential exporters, financial institutions, farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises in Kumasi on Wednesday. The three-day seminar was organised to provide participants with skills necessary to sustain international trade business. The GEPC organised it in collaborating with the International Financing Corporation (IFC) and Private Enterprise Partnership for Africa. Mr Boateng noted that international trade was increasingly becoming global and highly competitive as a result of technological advancement, product development, improvement in transport, and communication and information technology.

He pointed out that the challenge for exporting companies now should be how to globalise their operations in order to compete favourably in the fast changing international markets. Mr Boateng stated that GEPC has embarked on extensive mango nursery projects at Kpeve, Salaga, Nkonya and Sege to get potential planting materials for mango growers. He said as part of market access programmes, the Council took some 50 Ghanaian exporting companies to various fares in Europe, the United States and West Africa so that they could establish market relations. Mr Boateng said the GEPC was also rolling out more than 500 million cedis this year to support exporters to have access to international exporting companies.