Ghana will apply ETLS protocol - Opong

Tema, Sept. 17, GNA- Mr Stephen Opong, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, had assured Ghanaians that the country would continue to apply the provisions of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) with the commitment it deserves.

He said the Ministry had adopted the strategy of holding bilateral talks with the nation's neighbouring states, to ensure the committed implementation of the provision of the scheme. Mr Opong gave the assurance when he addressed members of the Tema Regional Branch of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry at their monthly general meeting at Tema.

Mr Opong who spoke on the ETLS, said so far about 260 companies and over 800 products had been admitted into the scheme in the country. He said a bilateral meeting was held with Cote d'Ivoire in September 2003, while another one with Burkina Faso, took place the following month.

The Deputy Director noted with satisfaction that as a result of the meetings with Burkina Faso, the country started implementing the scheme in January the following year. Mr Opong said the scheme was launched in 1990 to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers that impeded the growth of intra-regional trade. He said nine years later, that is in 1999, West Africa became, in principle, a free trade area for all products that satisfied the ECOWAS rules of origin.

The Deputy Director explained that to benefit from the scheme, a product must not only satisfy the conditions of acceptance for goods originating from the community, but must also obtain the requisite approval for admission into the scheme.

He was quick to add, however, that goods produced in Free Zones could not benefit from the scheme.

Mr Opong admitted that in spite of the significant progress made in the implementation of ETLS, there were still several challenges that needed to be addressed by member-states.

He said the challenges include member-states finding it difficult to grant zero rate of duty to ETLS approved products; the corrupt and uncooperative attitude exhibited by certain officials at some borders and check point and the dumping practices of some ECOWAS member-states. It also includes the absence of a common currency in the region and the multiplicity of levies and charges paid by exporters at certain borders.

Mr Opong disclosed that in order to reduce the level of harassment and the undue delays suffered by traders at various roadblocks and border posts, the ECOWAS Commission had decided to establish Pilot Monitoring Units at selected borders in the sub-region.

He was optimistic that the systematic removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers would enable the West African sub-region, which constituted a potentially huge market of over 250 million inhabitants, to benefit from the tremendous opportunities offered by such a large market.