Date: Tuesday 07th July 2020 @ 10am -12noon GMT
Moderator: Emmanuel Doni-Kwame, Secretary General, ICC Ghana
Panellists Dr Asabea Asare | CEO, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ghana Ms Valérie Picard | Deputy Director Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and ICC Paris
Dr Kweku Eshun | Managing Director, KF94 Ghana Mr Morgan Uloko | Managing Director, DHL Ghana
Synopsis
SMEs are the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the world’s economies. Many SMEs in Ghana which either rely on import for their supplies or export and the domestic economy for the sales have been largely disrupted. The disruptions in their value chains have impacted negatively on the productivity of most SMEs in Ghana. According to the WTO and UNCTAD, international trade has taken a ‘nosedive’ and it is forecasted to fall up to 20% through 2020 with SMEs in developing countries being the worst affected.
In recognizing the importance of international trade in reducing the impact of covid-19, a number of regional economic bodies and institutions including ICC have come up with measures to keep trade flowing. The ICC global initiative ‘Save our SMEs’ for instance gives 10 recommendations for how governments can use trade to help micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) to weather the COVID-19 storm.
Currently, countries including Ghana have begun relaxing their restrictions in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. In view of this, how do we accelerate the growth of businesses of SMEs to pre-COVID levels or near those levels to ensure job creation and productivity? What are the innovative interventions businesses need to adopt to expedite their recovery?
Objectives
The webinar “COVID-19: Strategies to revive Ghana’s business communities for sustainable and resilient growth” organised by ICC and Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation aims to
· Explore challenges faced by Ghanaian business due to Covid-19
· Discuss innovative strategies to address the challenges
- Discuss government measures implemented to keep businesses afloat during the pandemic and to kickstart the economy after the pandemic
· Share international perspectives on supporting business to thrive – including the Alliance approach to make trade simpler, faster and more cost-effective
Audience
The webinar is open, in particular for all business in Ghana.
Contact
Please contact Bright Awuye (bright.awuye@giz.de) and Mary Quaye (mary.quaye@giz.de) for any clarification.
The following documents gives some background for the discussion:
· https://iccwbo.org/media-wall/news-speeches/10-ways-to-use-trade-to-save-our-smes/
· https://www.tradefacilitation.org/global-alliance-publications/