The National Trade Facilitation Awards (NTFA), an annual event organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) in partnership with Ghana Community Network Service Limited (GCNet) and Ghana Revenue Authority, to reward excellence in the country's trade facilitation industry, will be held on July 22, 2017 in Accra.

This year's event is on the theme "Deployment of e-Applications for the Efficient and paperless Processing of Trade and Customs Transactions."

It will have new award categories including Best Shipping Line and Best Transitor among others. Another novelty is each award will be labeled with a sponsor of the event as part of the partnership the awards scheme has attracted.

The award scheme is also to provides the platform to encourage Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), freight forwarding agencies and other relevant bodies to work towards the attainment of international best practices in trade facilitation by reducing turnaround time in the issuance and approval processes of licenses, permits and exemptions for imports and exports transactions within 48 hours while ensuring safety and security.

Since its inception in 2016, the awards scheme has been recognised by industry players as a competitive barometer that drives industry players to achieve excellence in service delivery. The categories of the award comprise: Best Freight Forwarder (Large, Medium and Small), Best Warehouse Operator, Best Transitor, Best Free Zone Company, Best Shipping Line and Best eMDA among others

The Corporate Communications Manager of GCNet, Mrs. Aba Lokko remarked "GCNet is excited to be partners of the event, which comes on the heels of the company being recognised as the Trade Facilitation Company of the Year."

She explained GCNet has worked with the MoTI and the Ghana Revenue Authority over the past 15 years to deploy e-solutions to create a robust and reliable Single Window for the efficient and paperless transactions. She said it was not in doubt that fully automated systems as provided by GCNet had greatly impacted on national development.

Commenting on the criteria of the awards, Mrs. Lokko explained said the 2017 awards would be based on actual performances and achievements in 2016, focusing on compliance to set rules, revenue generation, time to completion of document processing and actual release of documents and transaction volumes.

She said GCNet was committed to using information and communication technology to facilitate trade, adding that GCNet was collaborating with the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure that the paperless infrastructure deployed by GCNet is fully utilised and the benefits realised by the citizenry.

Acting Director of Communications at MoTI, Mr. Prince Boakye Boateng explained the Ministry was still committed to its core policies which include ensuring speedy and efficient clearance of goods at the ports and borders.

He noted that the theme for the 2017 NTFA event Deployment Of e-Applications For The Efficient And Paperless Processing Of Trade & Customs Transactions was timely given the spearheading role the Ministry is playing in meeting the directive from the Vice President for the 100 per cent paperless initiatives to ease doing business in Ghana.

"We are happy at the partnership with GCNet to organise the annual NTFA awards as it provides an opportunity for Trade Facilitation industry players to push to the limit to achieve industry excellence to enhance the ease of doing business in Ghana. We will continue to use this platform to showcase examples of innovation, commitment and leadership to inspire others"he said.