Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) to push Africa’s economic growth and development

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration,  Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, says the maritime sector has a great potential to push Africa’s economic growth and development.

At the 17th Extraordinary Session of the General Assembly of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), she added, Africa’s maritime sector is a key driver to economic growth and maritime organizations should devise appropriate measures to make it viable. 

She said, “We are aware of the enormous contribution of the Maritime Industry to our economies, especially as the most cost-effective way of transporting large amounts of goods over long distances.”

She added, the current development in Green Shipping initiatives which involved the use of alternative fuels with low or zero carbon, in place of fossil fuels was fast becoming the new normal of shipping and Africa could not afford to be left out.

However, she added that there is a need to  prepare for the cost of the impending transition to cleaner fuels to ship-owners translating to increased freight rates.

 Minister for Transport who doubles as chairman for Maritime Organizations for West and Central Africa, Kweku Ofori Asiamah also added, about  80% of International trade was done in the maritime space thus, MOWCA was a vital mechanism with immense contribution to the maritime industry for the economic prosperity of nations.

He said the maritime industry transcended boundaries and there is a need for regional blocs to collaborate effectively in the development of relevant strategies for the operations, extraction and utilisation of maritime resources.

The regional maritime general assembly for stakeholders in the maritime industry in Africa, brought together about 20 countries with over 60 delegates to strategise and deliberate on matters of importance to the maritime industry in Africa.