2023-10-23 00:11:49
(90% of foreign trade in 2018, 80 to 85% of customs revenue)
On Friday October 20, 2023, the official opening ceremony of the “Open Port Days” was held in Cotonou, initiated by the Autonomous Port of Cotonou supported by the Ministry of Living Environment and Transport, responsible for Sustainable Development. It was in the presence of officials at various levels of the Port, the Prefect of the Coast, the Special Advisor to the Head of State Johannes Dagnon and the Minister of Living Environment and Transport, in charge of Sustainable Development, José Didier Tonato.
Bidossessi WANOU
“The port of Cotonou, from yesterday to today” is the theme at the heart of the Open Port Days held from October 20 to 22 in Cotonou. On the menu, exhibitions, networking, career forum, sea trips, visits to the port of Cotonou, hosting various panels, concert and a gala evening. In his welcome speech at the launch of these days, Bart Jozef Van Enoo, Director General of the PAC, returned to the objective of these days. “Open port days are an opportunity to discover the port of Cotonou, its activities, its infrastructure, its progress and transformations, to meet key players in the port community through exhibitions, panels and discussions, guided tours, also through career forums…”. It is indeed a perfect opportunity to discover and rediscover the port platform. And it is really worth it because, in recent years, numerous works have been opened at the port of Cotonou, which is already making it possible to transform this economic megacity of Benin in various ways. Commercial and marketing director of the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, Kristof Van Den Branden highlighted some current projects that are transforming the port of Cotonou. He insisted in particular on digitalization and dematerialization projects to free up flow. “Digitalization will make operations more transparent and faster.” Among other flagship projects for the digitalization of the Port, the DCM mentioned the Benin E-port with the dematerialization of port services: In this list, there are E-Banking, the Single Window, the digitalization and planning of ships, the electronic invoicing and payment, electronic document management and integrated port information system.
The Sales and Marketing Director also highlighted a series of partnerships to enable better development of activities at PAC. One of the most important projects in this partnership, the infrastructures, the commercial positioning, the logistical pillars and finally, the training component. In turn, José Didier Tonato, Minister of Living Environment and Transport, responsible for Sustainable Development recalled the place of the Autonomous Port of Cotonou for the Beninese economy. Among other performances, we can note having participated in 90% of trade with the outside world in 2018, contributing to the mobilization of customs revenue to the tune of 80 to 85% and to tax revenue between 45 and 50%. It is an important pillar. This is also what justifies the government’s sustained attention to its functioning in order to ensure its daily capacity to continue to support the economy. This official ceremony is followed by three panels led by different actors and which made it possible to successively address, The performance of ports in West Africa, which performance is driven by several factors, the PAC; digital transformation for an efficient port, where Benin is making significant efforts with the progressive and increased digitalization of procedures then gender equality where, the Port of Cotonou is also among the public companies which are also performing well in this chapter. In the stands visited after the official launch of the JPO, several structures present also allowed participants to learn more about the port ecosystem, the actors who drive it and how each of them constitutes an essential link in this chain. . The Gala evening and the concert were the other festive and relaxing moments of these days which allowed thousands of young people to discover the port platform and its actors through moments of walks at sea and in the port area of Cotonou.
QA October 22,
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