Shippers’ Authority, Standards Authority deepen engagements on trade facilitation

The Ghana Shippers’ Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority have renewed their commitments to trade facilitation through regular inter-agency engagements for the benefit of exporters and importers.

The two state agencies made the pledge when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, Ms Benonita Bismarck with some members of her management team paid a courtesy call on the Standards Authority on 30^th January, 2020.

The visit formed part of the Shippers’ Authority’s strategic plan to deepen its relationship with stakeholders in the shipping and logistics industry with the overall objective of protecting and promoting the interests of shippers in Ghana.

Ms Bismarck stressed the need for the two organisations to work more closely on trade policy issues to remove bottlenecks in the clearance regime at the ports and also on other trade issues affecting exporters and importers.

She called on the Standards Authority to make use of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority’s Shipper Committee platforms across 10 regions in Ghana to sensitise and educate shippers on compliance of standards in their businesses.

The Shipper Committees bring together shippers, shipping service providers, state agencies involved in trade facilitation and other stakeholders in the shipping and logistics industry to discuss pertinent issues affecting the industry and find solutions to them.

For his part, the Director-General of the Ghana Standards Authority, Prof. Alex Dodoo affirmed his outfit’s commitment to continue to listen to the concerns of shippers in order to facilitate the ease of doing business in the country.

The meeting discussed concerns of small-scale shippers on charges for export certificates, the implementation of EasyPASS, registration of importers and exporters among others and made proposals for redress.