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 10th 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.”
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