The Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Pamela Coke-Hamilton, has met with beneficiaries of the centre’s trade enhancement and support programmes that have been rolled out in the country to ascertain the level of impact and to identify key bottlenecks, as part of her official visit to Ghana.
The meeting was facilitated by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the state exports facilitator and the implementing agency for most of ITC’s support programmes targeted at both small and medium-sized and women-owned businesses in the country.
It was a platform for the ITC boss to learn practical experiences from beneficiaries of some of the projects that the centre has been working on as part of its partnership with GEPA, specifically, the She-Trades and Trade for Sustainable Development (T4SD) programmes, and how they could be improved to better serve their purpose.
In her remarks, Ms. Coke-Hamilton commended government on its various trade-facilitating interventions, especially those for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which, she said, could help build an ecosystem that allows young businesses to benefit from direct interventions.
“We want to see how we can work more in the value chains, like the shea butter, helping you develop more in terms of your digitalisation, smart agriculture, value chain addition in agri-processing—all the various areas that we think have great potential in Ghana and for export elsewhere,” she said.
The ITC boss also indicated that in broader collective terms, government’s 1D1F programme could build sustainability across the nation’s business landscape and increase employment by multiple folds.
She added: “So, I think what is really helpful for us is not only indirectly working with MSMEs and micro enterprises, but also to have a governmental ecosystem and also institutional partner like GEPA to be able to work with you in partnership and get [a] much greater result.”
The Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, said the two projects have been highly impactful for SMEs in the country, adding that her outfit will take charge and own the projects.
She thanked the ITC for the seamless partnership over the years, adding that GEPA will continue to collaborate with the centre on its various trade-promoting interventions.