The Managing Director Nigerian Export–Import Bank (NEXIM), Mr. Roberts Orya, has said that the ongoing Borderless Alliance conference in Lagos has potentials to totally remove non-tariff barriers to trade across the ECOWAS sub-region and Africa.
Orya stated this on Wednesday at the at the beginning of the conference in Lagos.
Orya disclosedthat NEXIM and the Nigeria Shippers Council were hosting this year’s edition of the conference tagged “Enabling Growth,” Borderless 2014.
He said Borderless Alliance is pivotal to the bank’s mandate to promote and deepen the export of non-oil products and services.
He reiterated the commitment of the bank to facilitating the Regional Sealink Project which is expected to provide maritime connectivity for enhanced movement of persons, goods and services across Africa.
Orya said the sea link project which is being sponsored by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FEWACCI and endorsed by both the ECOWAS Commission and the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa, MOWCA, will also help facilitate the realisation of the various maritime-related laws like the Cabotage and NIMASA Acts and the implementation of the National Shipping Policy.
Orya said the sealink project has becomes necessary following the challenges of road infrastructure as well as the absence of rail link within the region, in addition to the comparative low budgetary cost and short implementation timeline for the sealink project compared to either a regional road or rail project.”
High transportation costs and excessive transit time making intra-regional trade non-competitive, with West and Central African transport and logistics costs is one of the highest in the world,” he said.
Ziad Hamoui, President of the Borderless Alliance, said the conference is well-positioned to reach the developing markets in the Sub-region, from the commercial heart of West Africa
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