Women in cross-border trade are urged to register with the Regional Shipper Committees of the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) if they haven’t already.
The purpose of the move is to give the GSA the opportunity to acquire sufficient information about their operations and create programs and policies to assist their efforts aimed at socioeconomic growth.
This comes after previous complaints from women involved in cross-border trade about difficulties they encounter at the borders, including among others delays in document processing by border agencies, issues with the Letter of Commitment (LOC), multiple checkpoints and extortions, and armed robbery.
It is for this reason that the GSA collaborated with the GIZ-Trade Hub on 28th September 2022 to sensitize Women in Cross Border Trade in Accra on ways to avoid some of the recurrent challenges in their line of work.
A Senior Officer with the Shipper Services and Trade Facilitation Department of the GSA Mrs. Rhodalyn Djanitey used the occasion to educate the cross-border traders on the Authority’s Shipper Complaints and Support Units which have been set up at all the country’s entry points.
She assured the cross-border traders that the Shipper Complaints and Support Units are well equipped to handle any challenge and encouraged them to utilize their services.
The Head of the GIZ-Trade Hub Dr. Maren Breuer reiterated the crucial role played by Women in Cross Border Trade to Ghana’s economy, hence the decision to intensify efforts to assist them.
The Organizer for the Women’s Wing of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) Pearl Poku commended the GSA and the GIZ-Trade Hub for the initiative and called for regular collaborations to assist the operations of cross-border traders.