Wa, June 2, GNA - The Ghana Sippers Authority (GSA) on Wednesday

inaugurated its 10th and last Regional Shippers Committee at Wa in the Upper West Region to address the challenges facing importers and exporters in respect to the shipment of their cargos.

The Committee, known as the Upper West Regional Shippers Committee, has seven-member executives chaired by Chief Moses Yonny.

Inaugurating the Committee, Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Transport in a speech read on his behalf, congratulated the Authority for its efforts in reaching out to shippers throughout the country.

He said Ghana's ability to achieve the national target for the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) and particularly government programme of making Ghana the transportation hub for tourism and trade within the sub-region, was largely dependent on an effective and efficient transportation system.

Alhaji Dauda said in this regard, government would extend the rail-network to the North to facilitate the movement of persons and goods within the country and landlocked countries.

He said the development of the Boankra inland port would reduce travel time to and from the North to the Tema and Takoradi ports. He said the Ministry in collaboration with the GSA had in stock very innovative services for shippers. He added that the Ministry would still continue to offer them the needed support to enhance their business efforts to the Shippers Committees throughout the country.

Alhaji Issahaku Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, described the inauguration of the Committee as welcome news considering the increasing volume of business generated in the region and the challenges faced by shippers. He said the region occupied a strategic geographical location as far as Ghana's international trade with Burkina Faso was concern noting however that the Upper West was not oblivious of the challenges the border crossing area could pose.

He said the challenges, which were essentially security related included smuggling, armed robbery, gun-running, drug and human trafficking. Alhaji Salia tasked the security agencies to be more vigilant and to map out strategies to combat the menace and called on residents in the region to cooperate in that regard.

He also urged the Authority to take note of the peculiarities of the region and the special characteristics of the international trade and cargo that their shippers engaged in when organising their training programmes. Mr Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive Officer of GSA, explained that the reason behind the formation of the Shippers Committee was to get importers and exporters involved in finding solutions to their problems.

He said the inaugural platforms did not only afford them the opportunity to exchange ideas, educate and disseminate information to importers and exporters, but also a medium through, which the problems affecting shippers in their day to day business transaction were channeled to the GSA for resolution. Mr Mbiah said the Upper West Region is endowed with abundant natural resources that had great potential of providing an impetus to accelerate export-led growth and hoped that the inauguration of the Committee would form part of the process to tapping that potential.

Commander K.T. Dovlo (Retired) appealed to members of the Committee not to engage themselves in activities that would bring about loss of revenue to the state.