The Ghana Export Promotion Council (GEPC) says it will work closely with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to identify and develop non-traditional products and find markets for them in Canada.

“In the coming months, we will travel the length and breadth of the county to start the process”, Mr Stephen Normeshie, General Manager of the GEPC stated at a seminar in Takoradi.

The seminar was organized by the GEPC in collaboration with the Trade Facilitation Office of Canada to sensitize stakeholders in the export sector on the opportunities available at the Canadian market to export their products. Mr Normeshie said in spite of the opportunities in the Canadian market for Ghana’s non-traditional export “our share of that market is woefully small”.

According to him Canada and many developed countries accounted for just ten per cent of “our non- traditional export earnings in 2013” and attributed this to “our unfamiliarity with the requirements of those markets.”

“It is for this reason that the GEPC is happy to collaborate with the Trade Facilitation Office of Canada to organize seminars on exporting to Canada”. The General Manager indicated that government is doing its best to assist the export sector, and urged exporters to avail themselves of the opportunity to transact business in the Canadian market.

He stressed the need for the exporters to place the issue of quality, credibility and hard work as their cardinal principles in their transactions. The General Manager assured the exporters of government’s readiness through the GEPC and other facilitating agencies to resolve their challenges.

In that regard, he said, the National Export Strategy, which was launched last year would be implemented to ensure that export revenue target of five billion US dollars are met within the time frame of 2017.

The participants, made up of agro food processers, cocoa processers, fishmongers, dressmakers, wood craft and vegetable producers, among other entrepreneurs, bemoaned the bureaucratic frustrations they encounter in the export business and called on the GEPC to streamline the system for them.

Ms Belen Mulugaty, Project Officer for Africa at the Trade Facilitation Office-Canada took the participants through the trade opportunities available at the Canadian market.

She impressed on the entrepreneurs to transact genuine business to prevent frustration in the export of their products.