Increasing Trade in West Africa. September Borderless 2012 Transforming Trade A new managing director at the

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1 September 2012 Borderless 2012 Transforming Trade A new managing director at the borderless alliance New results from 19th Report on checkpoints Increasing Trade in West Africa

2 Welcome driving change In May, more than 200 stakeholders participated in the first annual conference of the Borderless Alliance in Abidjan and they elected an executive committee including leading traders from across the region. We can no longer afford to do business the way it s always been done, said one CEO. Hanna Tetteh, Ghana s Minister of Trade and Industry, summed up the call to action: Borderless is the right way forward. Read about the report on page X. The Borderless Alliance is moving forward with new momentum: a new director has come on board, Justin Bayili. Read about Mr. Bayili on page X. Join the Alliance and help make the changes to increase trade across West Africa! 2 September 2012 Follow us on

3 Borderless Alliance new executive committee members Stakeholders elected the first Borderless Alliance Executive Committee: Augustin Kouassi Apetey of Olam International, W.A. Krofah of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce, Kadiatou Ouattara of COPRA Cote d Ivoire, Ziad Hamoui of Tarzan Enterprises in Ghana, Chinwe Uduzu of British American Tobacco in Nigeria, Louis-Philippe Avit-Diecket of Nestle, and Ali Traore of ATPSL/ AOC in Burkina Faso. Join the Borderless Alliance and be a part of the dynamic change to increase trade in West Africa In Transit 3

4 COMPLAINTS ARE KEY TO REDUCING HARASSMENT Uniformed services have set up hotlines that drivers can call to report road harassment. Complaints are one important way drivers can help the uniformed services weed out officers who use their positions for personal gain. Drivers who feel a uniformed official has harassed them can call the following numbers to report the incident: BENIN To report offenses by customs officials dial or BURKINA FASO To report offenses by police officers dial COTE D IVOIRE To report offenses by police officers dial 100. To report offenses by any uniformed officer, dial or GHANA To report offenses by police officers dial +233 (0) To report offenses by customs officials dial +233 (0) To report offenses by immigration officers dial +233 (0) NIGER To report offenses by any uniformed officer dial SENEGAL To report offenses by police officers dial 17 or To report offenses by customs officials dial To report offenses by gendarmes dial TOGO To report offenses by gendarmes dial 172. To report offenses by police officers dial 161 or 117. Drivers can also call commandant Gbadagou at to report offenses by either the police or gendarmes. MALI To report offenses by gendarmes dial To report offenses by customs dial September 2012

5 19th Report: Executive Summary Côte d Ivoire making significant progress During the past four quarters, bribes in Côte d Ivoire have dropped by more than 15% from one quarter to another. Bribes are now close to the regional average. This truly excellent performance is the result of the involvement of all transport stakeholders, including the highest authorities. During the last quarter, one can notice the removal of the controls from the army (called FRCI for Forces Républicaines de Côte d Ivoire), and therefore the removal of related bribes and delays. Togo becomes a regional model A year ago, the Togolese authorities set up courageous measures to facilitate road transport: indeed all Police and Gendarmes fixed checkpoints were removed. Since then, surveys showed that this directive has been implemented effectively on the field, and that bad practices have not returned. As a result, Togo now has the best performance in the region as far as road governance is concerned. This quarter, however, the Unions started to inspect trucks, particuarly in Datcha (near Atakpame, about 150 km north of Lome, the capital). Senegal mindsets are changing Improvements observed during the previous quarter continued during this quarter. Although the number of checkpoints remained stable, bribes decreased by 12% and delays by 28%. Joint efforts from USAID projects PCE (Projet de Croissance Economique) and E-ATP (Expanded Agribusiness and Trade Promotion) contributed to a positive and sustainable stakeholders mindset change. Ghana delivering mixed results Road governance is still mixed in Ghana. The number of checkpoints and bribes began to decrease this quarter by 16% and 14% respectively, which is very encouraging. However delays have significantly increased and Ghana is the only country where that happened this quarter. Therefore, Tema-Ouagadougou is now the corridor where the delays are the highest in the region. While the Police service tends to harass the truckers a little less, bribes and delays attributable to Customs officers increased. Bribes per 100 km (USD) *Full report available at In Transit 5

6 Dakar SENEGAL MAURITANIA THE GAMBIA SENEGAL per 100 km GUINEA BISSAU 1.6 controls $4.93 USD bribes 14 minutes of delay 4.3 controls $13.11 USD bribes 3 minute of delay GUINEA Bamako MALI per 100 km 2.9 controls $10.40 USD bribes 22 minutes of delay 4.4 controls $26.12 USD bribes 3 minute of delay Koutiala SIERRA LEONE COTE D IVOIRE JANUARY 1 st MARCH 31 st 2012 CORRIDORS Trade Hub* ATP** ALCO*** ALCO data gathered from July September 2011 km LIBERIA Yamoussoukro COTE D IVOIRE per 100 km 1.9 controls $5.55 USD bribes 8 minutes of delay 5.3 checkpoints CONTROLS Police Customs Gendarmerie Others: Immigration, Unions, Water and Forest Services, Health Service, Municipalities & FRCI * ** *** Data from trucks with all legally required documents Data from all trucks carrying livestock, maize, millet/sorghum, onion/shallot or rice Data from trucks with and without all legally required documents AB po 13 CO bo 44 6 September 2012

7 Removing trade barriers in West Africa MALI BURKINA FASO per 100 km 1.8 controls $5.75 USD bribes 18 minutes of delay 2.3 controls $16.11 USD bribes 7 minutes of delay Ouagadougou BURKINA FASO Fada-Ngourma Niamey Kantchari NIGER Madaoua BENIN per 100 km Bobo-Dioulasso Bitou 2.2 controls $63.85 USD bribes 3 minute of delay 12.6 checkpoints GHANA per 100 km 1.8 controls $1.47 USD bribes 20 minutes of delay 2.6 controls $4.11 USD bribes 5 minutes of delay 5.4 checkpoints GHANA TOGO BENIN Sanvee Condji Parakou TOGO per 100 km 1.0 controls $1.42 USD bribes 10 minutes of delay 5.7 checkpoints Porto-Novo NIGERIA Abidjan Noé Elubo Tema Accra Aflao Kodjoviakopé Lomé Hillacondji Cotonou Seme Kraké Lagos NIGERIA per 100 km 16.2 checkpoints IDJAN rt dwell time days TE D IVOIRE rder crossing times hours Noe Elubo TEMA port dwell time 16 days GHANA border crossing times 15 hours Elubo Noe 33 hours Aflao Kodjoviakopé LOME port dwell time COTONOU port dwell time 14 days LAGOS port dwell time 26 days 34 days TOGO border crossing times 54 hours Kodjoviakopé Aflao 87 hours Sanvee Condji Hilllacondji BENIN border crossing times 36 hours Hilllacondji Sanvee Condji 45 hours Krake Seme NIGERIA border crossing times 65 hours Seme Krake In Transit 7

8 Borderless Conference 2012 More than 200 public and private sector stakeholders made a statement at the first Borderless conference in Cote d Ivoire: The time is now for changes that will increase trade across West Africa. They affirmed the Borderless approach dialogue and advocacy and elected the Borderless Alliance s first executive committee with leading regional companies in key positions, including Nestle and Olam International. The solution is what led me to join the Borderless Alliance, said Agdebola Monsuru, the managing director of a Nigerian trucking company, Westrend. We need a unified voice to make the changes. transforming trade higher would the last 10 years GDP figures have been? And how many more people would have seen higher wages? And how much more business would have generated how much more tax revenue? We need a unified voice to make the changes. The potential is enormous, said Jean-Louis Billon, president of Cote d Ivoire s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Today regional trade represents 12 percent of all trade in West Africa, Billon said. That s compared to 45 percent in South America, 54 percent in North America, 58 percent in Asia and 64 percent in Europe. Nestle, one of the world s largest consumer products companies, with brands that are ubiquitous across West Africa, made a compelling case for the removal of trade barriers. From left to right, U.S. Ambassador Philip Carter III, U.S. Assistant Trade Representative for Africa Florie Liser, Borderless Alliance President Ziad Hamoui, Côte d Ivoire Minister of Transport Gaoussou Touré, Côte d Ivoire Minister of Commerce Dagobert Banzio, and Ghana Minister of Trade and Industry Hannah Tetteh. If we could remove all of these checkpoints, our transport costs would be reduced by 20 percent, Nestor Finalo of the company s Cote d Ivoire operation told stakeholders. That equals $6 million that s money that I can re-invest. These are facts, not theory, not on paper. That view was echoed across the two-day event that resonated with a what if scenario: Since 2000, West Africa has seen unprecedented economic growth, an extended period of economic growth that promises to transform the region, and already has in many ways. But what if the region s business environment actually encouraged regional trade rather than made it so challenging to traders? How much Transforming Trade Abidjan, Côte d Ivoire May September 2012

9 Lome-Ouagadougou transport and logistics cost study The Lome-Ouagadougou Transport and Logistics Cost study, published in January 2012, is the second of a series of corridorspecific studies that examine constraints to efficient transit operations in West Africa. The report describes in detail the processes and actors involved in importing and exporting to and from Burkina Faso via Lomé port with the related formal and informal costs, as well as time and delays. The report identifies issues and opportunities and presents recommendations that stakeholders can advocate to improve the performance of transport and logistics in West Africa in general and that of the corridor specifically. The report confirms that far-reaching improvements to transport and logistics across West Africa can be achieved by liberalizing the trucking market, creating a single ECOWAS market and eliminating corruption and checkpoints. On the Lome-Ouagadougou corridor, improvements can be achieved by strictly applying the bilateral sharing agreement with the Port of Lome, promoting the effective operation of the Joint Border Post at Cinkassé and resolving procedural bottlenecks at the Port of Lome. The study also confirmed that most barriers to trade are perfectly legal. Bribes at checkpoints made up only 14% of total bribes paid on imports. Cumbersome clearing procedures in ports, at borders and inland terminals, however, encourage corruption traders pay bribes to speed things up. These procedures, all perfectly legal, should be addressed. If all report recommendations were implemented, the study estimates potential annual savings to be almost 80 million USD: USD 71.2 million on imports and USD 8.3 million on exports. In March 2012 the report was launched in Togo and Burkina Faso, with working groups initiated to address specific recommendations such as the effective operation of the Cinkasse Joint Border Post, promotion of the use of containers in the transit trade, review of the requirement for local insurance as a prerequisite for cargo clearance in Burkina Faso as well as the professionalization of the trucking industry in Togo. These initiatives will be developed and the Borderless Alliance will advocate to make the changes. Join the Alliance to help increase trade across West Africa. Goods destined for Ouagadougou are off-loaded a ship in Lomé port. Read the complete report online at www. borderlesswa.com In Transit 9

10 Justin BAYILI the new director general of the borderless alliance In July, Justin Bayili became the first managing director of the Borderless Alliance. M. Bayili is Burkinabé by nationality and brings a wealth of experience in business to the Alliance. Justin Bayili is Burkinabé by nationality, and brings a wealth of experience to the Alliance. A graduate of the University of Ouagadougou and the School for National Administration, he has previously held posts in Burkina Faso as Public Relations Manager at the Ministry for Economic Promotion (now the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Mines), as Permanent Secretary of the Burkinabe Association for Quality Management (ABMAQ) and as General Director of the National Office for External Trade (now the Export Promotion Agency APEX-Burkina). He has also worked as a consultant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the World Bank, and West African economic institutions UEMOA and ECOWAS. In Transit: Barriers to trade have persisted for decades in West Africa. What makes you think that the Borderless Alliance can change that? Justin BAYILI: Governments in the region are more aware that the competitiveness of our economies depends in large part on the improvement of the business environment and of road governance. That is why they have undertaken reforms with the support of the technical and financial partners in order to improve the business climate. That s the case, for example, with the Doing Business program of the International Finance Corporation. Elsewhere, the two regional economic communities ECOWAS and UEMOA have developed extensive free trade schemes that rest essentially on the principle of the free movement of people and goods, the right to establish enterprises, etc. Although these schemes are taking time to produce the desired outcomes, they are still on the agenda of regional leaders. In effect, national market sizes considered alone, with the exception of Nigeria, do not attract large investment if there is not the possibility to sell goods beyond borders. Governments in the region are more aware that competitiveness... depends in large part on the improvement of the business environment and road governance. The Borderless Alliance does not propose to fight from the back but to position itself as a partner to public sector leaders and the regional economic communities in order to present the concerns of the private sector concerns which are, by the way, the true constraints to the improvement of the business climate, to the 10 September 2012

11 free circulation of goods and persons. As long as these constraints persist in our region, the Alliance is completely justified and will pursue advocacy for a borderless West Africa. In Transit: Over the last five years, trade and investment has increased in West Africa. In effect, for the last decade, average GDP growth has been five to six percent. Why is a Borderless Alliance necessary when it seems as though economic growth is occurring already? Justin BAYILI: We should not indulge ourselves with symbolic figures 5 to 6 percent GDP growth, 10 to 15 percent for regional trade because other regions of the globe have achieved much better numbers in the same circumstances. In Transit: Are you optimistic for the future of trade and investment in West Africa? Why? Justin BAYILI: I m very optimistic. The levers for growth are there it s just up to us to work them in the right way. GET THE GUIDES... The Truck Driver s Guide Ghana le guide du conducteur routier MALI In Transit 11

12 is a campaign to increase trade across West Africa. The Alliance is a private sector led partnership advocating for reduced costs and delays in the movement of goods, vehicles, services and people. Join the Alliance and the movement to increase trade in West Africa.. Partners BEAM Building Better Markets Focal Points ATP and E-ATP