The Nigerian Export Promotion Council ( NEPC ) and the International Trade Centre (ITC), a body of market analysts from Geneva, Switzerland are collaborating on establishing a trade facilitation mechanism that will enable easy access to foreign markets.
Speaking while receiving a team from Yared Befecadu Associate Market Analyst of International Trade Centre (ITC) Geneva, to the Headquarters of NEPC in Abuja, the Executive Director of the Agency, Segun Awolowo said the platform is meant to facilitate the identification and subsequent elimination of trade obstacles faced by companies.
Awolowo noted that the inability of exporters, especially Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the West African sub-region, to meet up with business expectations have largely been attributed to challenges arising from lack of knowledge of market regulations and trade procedures.
According to a statement made available by the Head of Corporate Communications of the Agency, Joe Ita, the group from ITC was in Nigeria to elicit the “buy-in of relevant public and private institutions to ITC’s Trade Obstacles Alert Mechanism (TOAM),” a platform meant to facilitate the identification and subsequent elimination of trade obstacles faced by companies.
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ITC had explained that TOAM operates as an online instrument which connects companies and relevant agencies allowing room for exchange of information on impediments to trade with a view to solving same, thereby reducing looming damages for others in same problems, shortening the time of resolving issues and lowering costs.
Again, Yared said “TOAM guarantees the establishment of a workable institutional framework among relevant players involved in the identification and resolution of problems reported on the platform.”
The ITC experts gave an indication that TOAM would work better where there is established competent body or organisation approved to handle trade procedures as this will allow the selection of National Focal Points who would receive reports, exchange information, analyse obstacles, publish the results and communicate resolutions to members.
According to the report, as part of the processes to establish TOAM, ITC plans to train National Focal Point officials on the use of the application, and also build capacity for other related areas including market access, trade map, e-learning courses and use other ITC Market Analysis tools.
Yared is visiting Nigeria as part of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme being implemented by ITC in partnership with ECOWAS.
Earlier, Awolowo had thanked ITC for initiating the TOAM project and hoped that it will have a significant impact on Nigeria export trade, even before the three years that it is expected to last.
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