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Back to topCOMPETITIVENESS OF IVORIAN PORTS AND CORRIDORS: THE PAA TAKES PART IN AN IMPORTANT TRAINING WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY THE BORDERLESS ALLIANCE
COMPETITIVENESS OF IVORIAN PORTS AND CORRIDORS: THE PAA TAKES PART IN AN IMPORTANT TRAINING WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY THE BORDERLESS ALLIANCE
The Abidjan Port Authority (PAA) sponsored and took part on Thursday 9 March 2023, at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Côte d'Ivoire (CCI-CI), in a training workshop organized by the Borderless Alliance, on the theme: "What Efficient Operating Policy for the Competitiveness of Ivorian Ports and Corridors?"
The objective of this workshop is to improve the services provided to users of Ivorian ports and corridors.
To identify the problems and difficulties encountered by the actors, so that the accelerated implementation of the practical solutions which will be brought during this workshop will raise Côte d'Ivoire to the rank of the countries having good practices to imitate. These are also the stakes of this work which brought together many actors and operators of the port logistics chain, transport and road transit.
To achieve this, the integration of sub-regional economies is becoming more than necessary. Indeed, the birth of large community and economic groups, and the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), require the harmonization of customs policies and the free movement of people and goods, with a view to promoting regional and continental integration.
In this regard, Mr. Bakary MAGUIRAGA, Vice-President of the CCI-CI, in his introductory speech, recalled that thanks to the various pleas made with the support of sub-regional organizations and carried to the highest level of the States of the West African sub-region, many improvements can be attributed to the Borderless Alliance and many other umbrella organizations, which work daily for a more efficient management of ports and corridors. However, much remains to be done. That is why "we expect this workshop to be a response to the concerns of the users of our various ports and transit corridors," he added.
The workshop was also an opportunity for Mr. Jonas LAGO, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Borderless Alliance to present the activities carried out by his organization in 2021 and 2022. In addition, as part of the results of the advocacy of the Borderless Alliance, Mr. LAGO mentioned the decentralization of the Certificate of Origin verification process to all major border posts in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in 2014; the abolition of the statistical tax on originating products (ECOWAS) in Benin since 1 January 2015; the abolition of the Special Re-export Tax in Benin in December 2016; and the obtaining of the RFCV (Final Classification and Value Report) exemption on local products, particularly on cereal imports from ECOWAS and UEMOA member states, granted by the Ivorian Customs Directorate in August 2019.
Dr. Titi PALÉ, Commercial, Marketing and Communication Director of the PAA, representing Mr. Hien Yacouba SIÉ, Managing Director and sponsor of the ceremony, conveyed to Mr. Jonas LAGO, the congratulations of the sponsor for the initiative of the training workshop.
"This training workshop as an important exchange meeting, will be an opportunity to take stock of the transit corridors in Côte d'Ivoire, to carry out deep reflections on the actions to be implemented for a better fluidity of the land service of the ports, to look for appropriate solutions in order to modernize the transit procedures for the benefit of the competitiveness of our ports and corridors, and finally to look for tools for the development of the port infrastructures," she told the participants.
She also renewed the commitment of the Abidjan Port Authority to always accompany it to achieve the important objectives it has set for itself.
As a reminder, the Borderless Alliance is an association of 80 companies, created under the impetus of USAID in 2011, and which contributes to competitive trade in West Africa through the elimination of barriers to trade, free movement of people and goods, and the promotion of investment.
As an active member and regular sponsor of the activities of this organization, the PAA received in October 2022, on the occasion of the 9th Conference held in Abidjan, a triple distinction, one as an official sponsor, the second for its major role in African integration and the development of cross-border trade, and the third for the personal involvement of its Managing Director, Mr. Hien SIÉ, in the Alliance's projects.
