24 June 2024: Joint communique of the second meeting of the UK-Ghana TPA Committee
Updated 16 July 2024
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The second meeting of UK-Ghana Trade Partnership Agreement (TPA) committee was held on 24 June 2024.
It was co-chaired by Patrick Yaw Nimo, Ghana’s Chief Director in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and Paul Whittingham, UK’s Head of Trade for Development.
The meeting took place in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London.
The UK and Ghana remarked on the importance of these committees in facilitating open discussions and the exchange of relevant information to grow bilateral trade.
As the UK was in pre-election period parties were unable to engage in discussions on disputes rules of procedure. Note was taken of outstanding matters for the parties to follow-up and agree at the earliest opportunity.
The UK gave an update on its trade policy programme, including the enhanced trade and investment partnership (ETIP) that it has entered with Nigeria.
The UK also provided further information on the UK’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme. The parties agreed that references in the TPA to the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP) would be understood as referring to the UK trade preference scheme for developing countries going forward.
The UK also presented data on trade flows between the parties. Ghana shared updates on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) including its market access missions to other African States. Ghana also noted the importance of the UK avoiding the erosion of Ghana’s tariff preferences when entering new negotiations with third parties. The parties agreed to work together to identify and target business engagement to boost trade flows under the TPA.
The parties discussed the use of origin declarations as the appropriate documentation to ensure Ghanian exporters benefit from the provisions of the TPA. An appropriate timeline for Ghana to transfer solely to this documentation was considered.
The UK provided an overview of the cumulation provisions within the TPA and the parties discussed the opportunities presented by these provisions and how their usage could be improved. The UK also provided an overview of its sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) framework, import control regime (the Border Target Operating Model or BTOM) and its approach to organics.
The UK provided details on trade-related development cooperation being undertaken to support the effective implementation of the TPA and to enhance trade and economic development in Ghana. This included trade programming through the Standards Partnership, UK Trade Partnerships (UKTP), SheTrades Commonwealth+ and SheTrades Hub. The UK also noted the provision of thematic programming through British International Investment (BII), Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET), Ghana Revenue Programme and AfCFTA. The parties discussed how programming should be further targeted and monitored to ensure it is leading to a significant change in export numbers.
Ghana reflected on the potential future risks to trade. The parties agreed that ongoing engagement between committees would be important to progress the constructive discussions of the meeting. The co-chairs invited officials to work closely together and with the private sector to deliver on the parties’ trade ambitions.