Tema, (Greater Accra) 14 Jan. '99,

Ghanaian freight forwarders were yesterday urged to promote Ghana as an investor friendly country by their work ethics and attitudes. Nii Armah Ashietey, Tema Municipal Chief Executive who gave the advice, reminded them that, as a point of first contact, their manner of approach and interaction with investors could either entice them or discourage them from investing in Ghana. He was speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a 1.5 billion-cedi 130-room office complex for the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), near the Tema port. Nii Ashietey told the GIFF that their brand of business places them in a unique position to play the role of good public relations officers for Ghana in order to entice crucial partners for the country's gateway programme. He advised them to build offices at the Tema International Trade Centre (TITC) at Batsonaa which holds great potentials for the growth of the country's private sector ''if the business communities patronise it''. Nii Ashietey advised the GIFF against negative attitudes such as over-invoicing and under-invoicing since these undermine national economic growth. Mr Frank Sarpong, Tema district chairman of GIFF, said the huge investment that the government has made in the ports and the gateway project might not yield much results ''if the freight forwarding industry remains as it is today''. Mr Sarpong, therefore, appealed to the government to guarantee GIFF for an international financial support either in the form of a grant or a loan to put up the infrastructure required for it to play its part towards the realisation of the goals of Vision 2020. He touched on constraints in their work due to lack of a legal framework for the freight forwarding industry. The only law that exists is SMCD 188 and Legislative Instrument 1178 of 1978 which puts GIFF's operations under the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS). The law does not give GIFF any leverage over its members to pursue its programmes let alone enforce its code of ethics and discipline. Mr Sarpong said ''apart from customs procedures which are just a fraction of freight forwarding, all the other aspects of the industry like cargo consolidation, packaging, road transport and warehousing are not regulated by any law''. He said GIFF is also determined to end the "portfolio" and under tree" clearing agencies whose activities have adversely affected the smooth operations of all stakeholders in the industry. GRi

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