Government is taking measures to boost trade by removing all Customs barriers located across the country by September 1, 2017, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has revealed.

“From September 1, we are also removing all domestic internal customs barriers so that goods can move freely,” Dr Bawumia said when members of the ECOWAS Parliament paid a courtesy call on him on Wednesday, August 9, 2017.

He told the ECOWAS Parliament currently on a working visit to Ghana that the slow nature of integration is as a result of the lack of political will on the part of respective governments over the years and that is hampering trade within the Sub-region.

Dr Bawumia explained that the move to remove custom barriers will ensure that goods being carted from one location to another within Ghana “can move freely through the country to each of the borders without being stopped at any town for Customs checks”.

He said Ghana is putting measures in place to ensure efficiency at the various ports by adopting a paperless system starting September 2017.

He added that government is working with neighbouring countries to ensure that import duties to those countries can be paid at offices set up at the borders or ports before the goods get to their destination. “This, we think will help reduce smuggling and improve duty collection for the countries involved. So we are very committed to the ECOWAS project,” he added.