Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko has described cooperation among ports in West and Central Africa as one way to maximise the potential of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
Addressing participants and guests at the 43rd Annual Council and 18th Managing Directors roundtable of the Ports Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) in Lagos,
Bello-Koko stressed the need for countries in the region to translate their marine comparative advantages into opportunities for their collective prosperity
The NPA MD who added that West and Cebtral African countries share similar challenges and opportunities that link them together stressed that unity through ports cooperation will benefit their various economies
Apart from being linked by water, countries in West and Central Africa are linked by challenges and opportunities. Thus, given the increasing realization of the leverage that economic cooperation confers in the international arena, we will be doing great disservice to ourselves if we fail to maximize this unity through the cooperation of our ports.
While describing President Bola Tinubu’s creation of a Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy as visionary, Bello-Koko thanked the Minister Adegboyega Oyetola for the recent commissioning of a newly reconstructed Mission to Seafarers facility which has re-energized NPA’s resolve to invest more in order to harness more ideas from operational think tanks such as the PMAWCA Harbour Master /PFSO Network and PMAWCA Women Network where the Authority has over the years funded relevant employees for capacity building.
He said “Apart from being linked by water, countries in West and Central Africa are linked by challenges and opportunities. Thus, given the increasing realization of the leverage that economic cooperation confers in the international arena, we will be doing great disservice to ourselves if we fail to maximize this unity through the cooperation of our ports.
“The specific objectives of AfCFTA which includes the progressive elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods, liberalization of trade in services and cooperation amongst others is pregnant with a lot of opportunities for wealth creation and prosperity which I am convinced this conference will equip us to safely midwife for the benefit of our respective national economies with domino effect on the economy of the sub-region if our ports cooperate.
“As an organization that appreciates the catalytic role of PMAWCA in promoting Ports’ cooperation, the Nigerian Ports Authority will continue to embrace partnerships and support policies and action steps arising from the insightful policy-shaping meetings and technical sessions that will dominate the next few days.
“I will like to specially commend the PMAWCA Secretariat for sustaining this annual platform of cross fertilization of ideas and knowledge sharing for mutual development of our respective countries and the advancement of global trade” he concluded.
