Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have agreed to establish a structured technical process to address border trade compliance challenges, following a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 14th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Minister Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare led Ghana’s side in discussions that centred on the payment of duties, taxes, and other statutory charges at the two countries’ shared borders, as well as broader trade facilitation issues affecting cross-border operations.
The talks focused on ensuring that cross-border trade is accountable, transparent, and aligned with national and regional economic objectives, with border revenue compliance emerging as a priority following recent challenges including an incident in which 18 articulated trucks bound for Niger reportedly attempted to bypass land transit regulations, representing an estimated GH¢85 million in evaded tax revenue.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and SME Promotion, Ibrahim Kalil Konaté, welcomed Ghana’s approach and stressed the need for a comprehensive strategy involving technical institutions to resolve the challenges.
Ghana will constitute a technical delegation and communicate proposed dates for an initial follow-up meeting with Ivorian counterparts.
The bilateral engagement with Côte d’Ivoire was one of several held by Ofosu-Adjare at MC14, where she also met counterparts from Burkina Faso, Morocco, and Turkey to explore market access, agribusiness collaboration, manufacturing partnerships, and digital economy opportunities.
MC14, which ran from March 26 to 30 in Yaoundé, was the first WTO Ministerial Conference hosted on African soil since 2015, bringing together trade ministers from all 166 member states.
The Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire agreement aligns with commitments under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to reduce trade barriers and strengthen intra-African commerce.
