The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023, organized another edition of its CEO’s Breakfast Meeting, to dialogue on how Ghana can revitalize its supply chain, to maximize benefits from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
This event, which was organized in partnership with Agility Logistics Parks, availed an excellent platform for relevant stakeholders from both public and private sectors to network, share knowledge, and delve deeper into ways to enhance Ghana’s position as a regional logistics hub. As observed in recent times, the AfCFTA has opened immense opportunities for trade and economic growth across Africa, and Ghana aims to leverage this initiative to attract increased investment. However, one of the key challenges facing the implementation of the trade pact is the development of efficient supply chain solutions. As posited by experts, Africa’s supply chain is marred by high cost of moving goods within the continent, inadequate transport infrastructure and lack of regulatory frameworks.
In light of this, the CEOs Breakfast Meeting, through panel discussions, keynote speeches, and interactive sessions, explored the various issues besetting the country’s supply chain, logistics optimization, and ways to build strategic partnerships aimed at improving supply chain operations.
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Speaking at the event, the Centre’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Yaw Afriyie Amoateng noted that the operational difficulties of doing business across borders in Africa were huge impediments to building regional supply chains. Due to this, he implored logistics companies to work with the Government to address the operational inefficiencies.
He assured that “the Government recognized the importance of rail, road, transport infrastructure in addressing the supply chains pitfalls, and is pursuing an aggressive development agenda in that regard”.
Taking his turn to address the audience, the Country Lead of Agility Logistics Parks, Dickson Odei argued that “the supply chain was the engine of trade. Therefore, inefficiencies to the supply chain will be detrimental to trade”. He mentioned that this was the reason why his outfit and other key players in the private sector were providing the needed facilities and logistics to support and boost Intra-African trade.
Contributing to the discourse, the Ghana Revenue Authority’s Chief Revenue Officer (Imports and Exports), Edward Bagyiri, outlined some benefits the nation will enjoy from strengthening its supply chain. According to him “a revitalized & efficiently managed logistics & supply chain sector is a prerequisite for value creation & cost reduction in trade through expedited delivery services.”
The session then transitioned into a panel discussion, where discussants looked at the issues besetting Ghana’s commerce, and viable means to address some systemic issues.
The informative event was capped with a tour of Agility Logistics Park at the Free Zones Enclave in Tema – one of the largest private owners and developers of Grade A warehousing and light industrial parks in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.
The CEO’s Breakfast Meeting is a GIPC-initiated event, organized periodically, to bring together CEOs and business moguls, as well as government authorities, to deliberate on pertinent issues affecting business and investments in Ghana.
