Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC) in Geneva has organised two separate workshops for the export community in Ghana on voluntary sustainable practices affecting trade development.
The workshop dubbed ‘T4SD’ discussed the practice of voluntary sustainability standards such as Fairtrade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance. The workshop presented an overview of current challenges and opportunities for producers and exporters participating in voluntary sustainability standard initiatives and a sharing of participants’ experiences in sustainability initiatives.
Speaking to participants at the workshop, Mr. Kwadwo Owusu Agyeman Chief Executive Officer of GEPC said that GEPC is focusing on expanding Ghana’s non-traditional exports (NTE) market to enable it achieve its targetted export revenue of US$5billion by 2015.
The expansion drive would involve market penetration and consolidation in Africa, as well as exploring virgin markets in Asia including China, Japan and India. He concluded by saying that “North African countries have a particular preference for Ghanaian fruits and vegetables and we are eyeing that market seriously,”
The workshop was part of an ongoing project by ITC to respond to a growing global interest in sustainable procedures and standards in the production and service value chain. Accompanying this growth is the increasing need for standards information and transparency. However, producers and exporters in the developing world often lack adequate information when considering how to engage in sustainable production and trade practices. Additionally, most manufacturers, retailers and public procurement officials lack detailed information when making sustainable purchasing decisions.
Accordingly, the ITC is developing a web-based tool, dubbed ‘T4SD’ to centralise, organise and disseminate information on voluntary sustainability standards and related research results to strengthen the capacity of producers, exporters and buyers to participate in sustainable trade. By the end of 2010, T4SD will incorporate more than 10 voluntary sustainability standards covering over 20 product groups and including over 150 case studies.
ITC provides on-line tools, tailored market research and trade analysis, and conducts training programmes in market analysis for trade policy makers, trade support institutions and the business community in developing countries. The T4SD tool will complement ITC on-line tools, which already include: Trade Map, Market Access Map, Investment Map, Trade Competitiveness Map and Product Map which are accessible through the Market Analysis Tools Portal. Interested users in Ghana can contact the undersigned for free access to these tools.
By Agnes Gifty Adjei-Sam
Head, Ghana Export Trade Information Centre
