Ghana targets $3.3b earnings from non-traditional exports in 2013
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has targeted to rake in $3.308 billion of revenue earnings from Non-Traditional Exports (NTEs) for 2013.
Consequently GEPA has earmarked next year as a peak period to increase the performance of the NTE sector by 35.24 per cent over the 2011 and 2012 years to enable the Authority attain the target of five billion dollars of NTEs revenue by 2015.
Mr Stephen K. Normeshie, Acting Chief Executive Officer of GEPA made this known to journalists on Thursday at the sidelines of the ongoing 10th Togo International Fair 2012 in Lome.
Ghana, which is one of the 10 African and Latin American countries participating in the fair, is represented by 31 Ghanaian exhibitors.
Mr Normeshie said in 2011, NTEs amounted to $2.423 billion adding that out of the $2.446 billion projected for 2012, revenue that had accrued by mid 2012 stood at $1.387 billion.
He expressed optimism that the Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF) would provide funds to enable GEPA to roll out its programme to realize the target for 2013.
Speaking on the importance of the fair, Mr Normeshie said it would expose Made-in-Ghana products to the Togolese business community and the general public, sell the Ghanaian products as well as create the platform for the Ghanaian exhibitors to get orders for their products.
He observed that the solo and international exhibitions and fairs that Ghana had either organized or participated in over the years had yielded positive results.
Other countries in which Ghana had organized such solo exhibitions and participated in international trade fairs include Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya and Nigeria.
Mr Alexander Dadzawa, Head of Marketing and Promotion at the GEPA, said the Authority had over the past five years pursued a marketing agenda to promote made in Ghana products in West African countries.
He said GEPA had diversified its promotion activities to include herbal medicine and building materials, particularly aluminium roofing sheets.
Mr Dadzawa added that cocoa powder, moringa and other herbal products are on high demand at the fair.
The participation of Ghanaian companies in the Togo International Fair is being organized by GEPA in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry and with the support of the Ghana Embassy in Togo.
The fair, which started on 23rd November and expected to end on 10th December, would be officially closed to the Ghanaian delegates on the 4th to enable the exhibitors to return to Ghana to exercise their franchise in the upcoming elections on December 7.
Source: GNA