Shippers Authority signs MoU with Burkina to promote transit trade
The Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Burkinabe counterpart, Burkina Shippers’ Council (CBC) to facilitate transit trade between the two countries.
The MoU would define a bilateral cooperation between the two institutions, which is aimed at strengthening their roles in the promotion and implementation of policies geared towards continued improvement of the efficiency of the transport chain between Ghana and Burkina Faso.
This was announced in a news statement issued by the Ghana Shippers’ Authority in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.
It said the two sister state agencies had also committed themselves to some areas of cooperation, including offer mutual assistance to shippers and other stakeholders in the transport chain, exchange relevant information on international trade, conduct joint studies and research in areas of common interest to shippers of both countries and institute effective tracking systems for monitoring the movement of cargo on the corridor.
Additionally, Ghana and Burkina Faso would, among other things, collaborate in the area of ICT in the collection, processing and exchange of statistics and support each other in negotiations with ship owners and agents, freight forwarders, port authorities and other service providers in the transport chain.
The signing of the agreement is a renewal of the commitment of both organisations to the terms of the MoU, which was first signed in 2007, and also reviewed certain provisions to reflect and address contemporary demands of the transit trade regime between the two nations.
Madam Benonita Bismarck, the Chief Executive of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, who signed the MoU on behalf of the GSA, described Burkina Faso as a strong international trade ally which accounted for about 80 per cent of the total import transit cargoes passing through Ghana’s ports.
She said the provisions of the agreement would be vigorously pursued to the mutual benefit of both countries and not allowed to gather dust.
“It is my hope that the relationship between Ghana and Burkina Faso will grow from strength to strength, especially as the two countries are going to be connected by rail in the very near future,” she added
Mr Erve Sebastien Ilboudo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Burkina Shippers’ Council, on his part, expressed his organisation’s commitment to addressing trade bottlenecks between the two countries.
A Joint Technical Committee has been formed to see to the implementation of the MoU on various activities.
Source: GNA