The Minister of Trade, Ms Hannah Tetteh, has frowned upon the unending disagreements between the Ghana Standards Board and the Food and Drugs Board over the proper certification of Ghanaian goods and food products entering the European Union countries.
�Flash bulletins from EU countries that Ghana�s food products do not meet quality standards, is destroying Ghana�s trading activities�, she lamented.
Addressing a trade forum in Accra yesterday, Mr Tetteh said: �The country�s interest is paramount than any individual organisation, and this tit for tat should stop.�
She did not elaborate on the problems between the two state institutions. The forum was under the theme �Ghana�s Trade Policy direction in the 21st century. Developing markets, securing growth and delivery jobs.�
The Minister asked the participants, especially those form the private sector and civil society, to bring challenges out for thorough discussion and suggest possible solutions for government�s consideration to improve trade.
�Government should not always be seen as offering prescriptions� she said. The British High Commissioner in Accra, Nick Westcott, in a remark, said trade was the stimulus that brought about the industrial revolutions in the western world which eventually led to its development.
Protectionism in trade, he said, was risky because it obstructed domestic growth of the economy.
�Russia and Cuba�s control of trade over the years did not work,� he said. The High Commission said Britain remain committed to the Dova plan of action for trade development. Mr Westcott commended the government for its political courage in taking certain firm trade decisions.
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