SPIO'S INFO SHARING INITIATIVE GAINS RECOGNITION

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday, November 11, 2015 

The Information Sharing Portal on trade initiative being spearheaded by Trade and Industry Minister Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah is gaining international momentum.

Former Malta’s Ambassador to Jordan and Chairman Emeritus of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Anthony De Bono has commended Dr. Spio-Garbrah for his untiring effort in facilitating trade on the African continent, especially through ICT and urged governments to take the initiative seriously.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah had put forward the proposal during a meeting by Africa Union members, who are preparing for the 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which is scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 15-18 December 2015.

According to the Trade and Industry Minister, setting up African Trade Information Sharing Portal to boost trade and investment ties among African countries would position the continent better in trade negotiations.

Briefing the media on the preparation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Malta, Ambassador De Bono urged President John Mahama to ‘step up’ Dr. Spio-Garbrah’s initiative, which would enhance Africa’s potential as a major growth frontier in the trade and investment sectors.

“This is a unique and timely occasion for H.E. President John Mahama to give a very wide profile to the Pan African Trade information sharing platform by cementing the concept into his policy statement, leading to its eventual inclusion in the final declaration of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, thereby serving as the eventual meaningful contribution by Ghana at the 10^th Ministerial World Trade Organisation Conference scheduled for December 2015 in Kenya.”

Ambassador De Bono said, “Such a tool would enable Africa Union member states to take advantage of economies of scale within Africa’s regional value chains that would connect them to the global supply chain.

“Minister Spio-Garbrah’s proposal should enable Africa, an emerging market, to be aggressively offensive and ambitious to promote the private sector by developing the capacity of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),” he added.

He said that “for a decade and most of the time as his Chairman, I have witnessed Minister Dr. Spio-Garbrah’s highly acclaimed professional work in the area of ICT and telecommunications during his term of office as the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization. It was, therefore, of no surprise that he opted to tap his globally admired expertise in the field of ICT, underscoring the urgent strategic need for the internet as the driving force to launch the proposal to the African Union.”

Ambassador De Bono further said that “with this direction, SMEs would improve their competitiveness in an export-led growth policy framework in the domestic market to compete in the prevailing global market place which is governed by the rules-based multilateral trading system of the WTO.

“I strongly would support Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah’s call for the African Trade Information Sharing Portal.  To that end, I would further recommend that the AU would require a coordinated effort drive even at the AU Commission to implement Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah’s proposed Africa Trade Information Sharing Portal.”