Ghana needs to increase representation on world trade groupings

Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, on Thursday admitted that Ghana's representation at world trade groupings left much to be desired but said the government was seeking to change the situation.

This would enable the nation to have a fair representation and to promote her interest on world matters. Ghana has only one person representative at the European Union level on trade matters and one person at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) level in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Deputy Minister said the government was seeking to change the trend and beef up representation at these and other international trade organisations. Mr Osei-Adjei was reacting to criticisms by speakers at the launch of research finding report on fairness in world trade.

The speakers included Dr Charles Abugri, Executive Director of Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), a non-government organisation, Mr Tetteh Hormeku Adjei, Deputy Co-ordinator of Third World Network-Africa, a civil society organisation championing issues on global trading systems and Mr Edward Kareweh, Senior Industrial Relations Officer of the General Agriculture Workers' Union.

They criticised Africa's representation on world trade issues, which had prevented her from pushing forward fairness in agreements. Oxfam International, a confederation of 12 development agencies working in 120 developing countries to reduce poverty and promote fair trade, launched the report known as the "Rigged Rules and Double Standards".

The main finding of the research was that major trade partners did not treat African countries fairly. Mr Osei-Adjei noted that international trade in the past operated on comparative advantage in production but now the trend had changed to favour competitive advantage.

He said the new trade had shifted emphasis and changed world economies and made globalisation processes uneven. Trade for Africa now represented two struggles in the form of poverty and relations between those on the Northern and the Southern hemispheres of the globe, the Deputy Minister said.

He noted that Africa was faced with enormous global changes combined with further liberalisation. He said Ghana had come out with reform measures in trade to improve exports, adding that the government alone could not effect all the needed changes for the country to benefit from international trade agreements.

He, therefore, urged civil societies, trade unions and non-governmental organisations to help government push forward this agenda. Mr Sebastian Tia, a representative of Oxfam, in a welcoming address said the organisation stood to promote human rights, health, education and gender issues.

He said Oxfam also sought to increase market access for African countries, advocate removal of subsidies on agricultural produce, promote fairness in trade and ensure that reforms occurred at the WTO level.

Mr Tia noted that trade had the potential to get people out of poverty, but this was the opposite for Africa. Oxfam's aim, therefore, was to inform people to add their voice for change in global trade through research, lobbying and advocacy.

Mr Hormeku said most people saw trade as goods crossing borders, but "trade now cuts across even the collection of rubbish in a country." The agenda for Africa in the liberalisation of services needed to be geared toward making sure that money earned through investment stayed in the affected countries, he said.

Mr Hormeku said one of the most offending agreements by the WTO was the Trade Related Investment Measure (TRIMS), which sought to discourage the use of local raw materials in any investment destination country.

He described TRIMS as "one of the most outrageous laws" on trade and said it would allow investors to use cheaper subsidised agricultural products from Europe and other developed countries instead of the costly non-subsidised products in the affected country.

He stated that Africans wanted to be given the chance to develop their own rules but this was going to need a lot of effort in the face of so many agreements ranging from the United States African Growth Opportunity Act, the EU/ACP Cotonou Agreement and the WTO Agreements.

Mr Kareweh criticised some agreements of the WTO, especially that on the Intellectual Property Right, which, he said, was detrimental to agricultural producers in Ghana. He said small companies had limited capacity and, therefore, had to produce for export.

He identified two weaknesses in Ghana's industrial and agricultural sectors saying that both sectors lacked integration and the direct linkage required to absorb each other's needs.

For instance, government was promoting non-traditional exports but Ghana had no manufacturing base to absorb rejected okro meant for export. Mr Wim Olthof, Economic Advisor with the EU Delegation of the European Commission, blamed Africa for the unfair treatment in trade agreements.

He agreed with some of the speakers that there was the need for Africa to increase her representation and said no matter the mode of agreement, it behoved the developing countries to argue for the best of terms.