TRADE FACILITATION: Shippers’ Council Tasks Stakeholders To Embrace UNCTAD After Post COVID19

As part of efforts to encourage seamless port operations and to further encourage “Smart Port status, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council has called on the federal government and maritime stakeholders to embrace the ten point action plan of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for facilitation of trade as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.

The Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr. Hassan Bello in his address at the flag off of a sensitisation workshop for stakeholders on Trade Facilitation During the Covid-19 pandemic organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.

The Chief Executive Officer said the council had packaged series of sensitisation workshop for stakeholders and relevant agencies to discuss trade challenges, lesson learnt during the pandemic and to reflect on ways of actualising a national action plan to cushion the adverse effects on the economy.

Bello reiterated the necessity to adopt the ten point action plan of the UNCTAD owing to its importance which he said its adoption became glaring locally during the lockdown period occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic..

The ten point action plan includes; ensuring uninterrupted shipping, keeping the port open, projecting international trade of critical goods and speed up customs clearance and trade facilitation.

Facilitating cross-border transport to ensure free flow of goods across borders, safeguarding transparency and provision of up-to-date information, ensuring the right to transit.

Others include; going paperless to help in observing social distancing, protecting shippers and transport service providers alike as well as prioritising technical assistance by investing in human, institutional and technology capacities.

Speaking further, Bello reiterated that it was pertinent to emphasize that the experienc during the Covid-19 pandemic had demonstrated the need for the adoption of E-commerce in Nigeria especially the digitisation of the port in order to reduce human-to-human contact.

He quipped that the both government and private sector alike need to embrace the concept of smart ports in line with the international best practices.

He assured that the resolutions reached at the workshop would be implemented in order to facilitate trade in line with the UNCTAD 10-poibt action plan.

The 3-day seminar is targeted at x-raying the challenges, lessons from the global rage of the disease and to find a way forward for seamless trade in the industry.

By Roland Ekama