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Context

Over the last decades, Ghana has made important improvements regarding economic cooperation, regional integration and trade. In line with the objective of harmonising trade tariffs within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and strengthening the common market. Ghana has implemented the ECOWAS Common External Tariffs (CET) since February 2016 with its four basic tariff rates. Ghana ratified the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe, which was initiated in June 2014. The agreement is expected to lead to tariff-free exports of goods between Ghana and Europe. The EPA will protect existing jobs in the export sector and aim at bringing more investment to Ghana and the creation of new jobs. 

WACOMP Ghana 

WACOMP is a partnership initiative between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU).The programme aims to support different value chains for promotion of structural transformation.

In Ghana, in partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the programme seeks to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian exports with a focus on three selected value chains:

– cassava and its derivatives,

– fruits (mango and pineapple),

– cosmetics and personal care products,

through enhanced value-addition, low carbon sustainable production and processing aimed at increased access to regional and international markets.

WACOMP Ghana is in line with the EPA Accompanying Measures Strategies and the Government priorities. It aims to develop the targeted value chains, improve competitiveness of SMEs, strengthen the supporting intermediate organisations and create better linkages among the selected value chain actors. 

UNIDO Approach 

For the WACOMP Ghana implementation, UNIDO has developed a tailored approach with 5 key axes: coordinate, compete, conform, connect and credit : “The 5 C’s for competitiveness”.

This approach aims to: 

  • promote dialogue and synergies within the VCs through the creation or strengthening of Value Chain Strategic Committees (VCSC) to be used as a forum for discussion (Coordinate – Output 1), 
  • develop competitive manufacturing capabilities by upgrading MSMEs capacities through the implementation of UNIDO clusters methodology (Compete – Output 2), 
  • support quality infrastructure and MSMEs compliance to prove conformity with market requirements (Conform – Output 3), 
  • promote efficient connectivity to markets by strengthening marketing capacities (Connect – Output 4) and 
  • link MSMEs to financial institutions to implement all the improvements required to enhance their competitiveness by accessing appropriate and affordable credit schemes (Credit – Output 5).
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This integrated approach aims to ensure that SMEs are competitive in international markets with adequate access to financing end enhance shared prosperity in Ghana.

For more information, please contact:

Juan Pablo DAVILA,

Project Manager 

Email

To find out more about the project strategy and activities, please visit: https://wacompghana.org/

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