The Head of DEinternational Services and Key Account of the German Industry and Commerce in Ghana, Richard Ekow Mensah, has advised Ghanaian exporters to take advantage of the German market space to increase revenue.

He said the Ghanaian diaspora in Germany were more than 37,000, which was a huge platform for exporters in Ghana to tap into and increase revenue generation.

“The Ghanaian diaspora in Germany also wants to eat and purchase Ghanaian foods and products, so if you are an exporter in Ghana, there is a huge potential,” he added.

Mr Mensah said this during an interactive session organised by the Compete Ghana Programme on access to selected European markets.

The Programme is offering technical assistance to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) in the implementation of the stepping-stone Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and related accompanying measures, with funding from the European Union.

Mr Mensah urged exporters interested to do business within the German market space to visit the Ghana Export Promotion Authority to be trained on the regulations, rules and policies as far as standardisation was concerned before exporting.  

He encouraged Ghanaian exporters to always stick to the standards to expand their businesses to the European market in general.

“Also, when you want to expand your reach to Germany, you should always look out for partnerships because for most exporters, sometimes they just limit themselves to a specific country but a buyer in Germany could have connections to other European markets,” he added.

Mr Nicholas Gebara, Team Lead, Compete Ghana, said they had been training 40 companies on how to access the EU market under the EPA, with representatives from various embassies and bilateral chambers of commerce presenting the opportunities in their respective countries to the Ghanaian exporters.

“We also invited the British High Commission as there is a big diaspora and lots of interest from the participants to export to the United Kingdom, where the standards and requirements are similar,” he added.

Mr Raffaele Quarto, Trade Counselor, EU Delegation in Ghana, said due to the EPA, Ghanaian exporters no longer faced duty or quota restrictions because of the negotiations in 2016 to give free access.

While in a united market space, there were 22 different languages representing 27 countries in the union, hence the need to consider this diversity, particularly with consumers with different approaches, languages and needs, he said.

Madam Priscilla Brookman-Amissah Impraim, the Chief Executive Officer, AB Ovo Confectionery Limited, said the Compete Ghana Programme was beneficial because the Ministry of Trade and Industry had selected 40 companies to assist them export their products to the EU.

She said the selected exporters had undergone a series of training courses to help them go through the main processes in trying to get the paperworks done and appealed to the EU to avoid stringent measures to facilitate the process.