The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has begun the process to formulate a new National Export Development Strategy to enhance Ghana’s effective participation in the multilateral trading system.
It is also to enable the country to take maximum advantage of market opportunities in the short, medium and long terms.
Addressing participants at the opening session of a national workshop to formulate the strategy, Ms Afua Asabea Asare, the CEO of GEPA, said the design of new export strategy followed the expiry of the existing National Export Strategy (NES), which was formulated and launched in 2012 for implementation within a five-year period.
She said there was, therefore, the need to formulate a new strategy within the context of Government’s industrial transformation agenda based on the 1D1F and other laudable initiatives.
Ms Asare expressed concern about the near stagnation in Non-Traditional Export revenues around US$2.53 billion over the last few years though the potential for massive increases in the numbers do exist.
“For this reason, therefore, we must all rethink our strategy going forward so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past five years,” she said.
To this end, GEPA as the foremost trade promotion agency of government is poised to continue to perform its expected role by building the capacity of Ghanaian exporters to compete favourably in the market and rake in the necessary export revenues for economic development.
It is in this direction that a number of programmes and activities had been lined up in 2019 and beyond, whose implementation will no doubt enhance further our trade with the rest of the world.
These activities include the development of one exportable product in all districts of Ghana to provide the required raw and semi-processed materials to feed the factories which are being set up in every district of the country.
Mr Theodore K. Markam, a technical expert said there is the need to integrate the export strategy with the government’s industrialization agenda and other export-oriented policies.
