By Prince J Musa
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has in a sensitization drive engaged traders across six districts in Sierra Leone on the importance of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), and agreement on Special Economic Zone (SEZ Policy).
The programme which was held in Kenema on 18th October 2023 targeted traders from Bo, Pujehum, Kenema, Kono, Moyamba, and Kailahun Districts.
The Deputy Director of Foreign Trade and Regional Integration- Ministry of Trade and Industry Mack Tamba Nyuma, told the participants during his PowerPoint presentation that the aim of the nationwide engagement was to help them understand the special economic zone opportunities and Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement.
According to him, the ministry chose Kenema because it is a strategic economic zone in terms of business as it is linked to four of the other five districts and, neighbouring Liberia and Guinea and as such, they want the people to be well- informed about the agreement and it significance towards the economic development of Sierra Leone.
Nyuma said with the special economic zone, the government is trying to create a trading platform in which several economic activities can take place and ease the delivery of goods and services.
He said this would also enable the country to increase its global strength by ensuring packages with standard products befitting international standards.
According to him, the special economic zone will attract more investors to come into the country and open more industries, which will permit market links within African countries while prioritizing Sierra Leone out of the 54 countries that signed the agreement.
Nyuma said the primary objective of the Special Economic Zone in Sierra Leone is to fully integrate the scheme into the national development programme, provide a road map for the development and management of SEZ in the country and help harmonize stakeholders’ views regarding guidelines procedures with details for effective operations and management of economic sectors.
Nyuma said it will also ensure the zone operates within the international best practices which will facilitate a stable and sustainable environment for more economic investment. ‘’Special economic zone will create more investment market for African Countries’’, he emphasized.
Among other things, Nyuma said the special economic zone would create large-scale agricultural products, industrial development and fast sustainable investments in Africa, which had been largely neglected in the continent.
The Human Resource Officer, Kenema District Council, Abdul Rahman Bah, said the SEZ will break barriers that traders face in importing and exporting their goods.
Speaking on behalf of the local government, Fatimata Sia Tengbeh, commended the government for the initiative but however said that traders are challenged with the cost of fuel.
She added that another concern of the traders was that foreigners were mostly given the opportunity to do exporting of local commodities instead of citizens. Thus, she said they as citizens are being deprived of what they are supposed to benefit from .
Another trader from Kailahun district, Sia Bobor, pointed out that traders in the border areas in Sierra Leone are being deprived by the immigration and the security sectors as the Guineans do not allow their goods like groundnut to come over Sierra Leone, but the officers allow goods like palm oil, and other local commodities to go to Guinea.
She called on the new minister of trade and the immigration senior officers to look into those issues.
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