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Two delegations from the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA) and the Ministry of Transport are in Cote d'lvoire and Elubo to negotiate the review of a trade directive that has resulted in cargo trucks from Ghana being held up at the Elubo Border. For more than two weeks now 59 trucks have been held up at the Elubo Border. One of the delegations, made up of five members of the GSA, led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Kofi Mbiah, has been at Elubo since Thursday, May 22, 2014, while the second team of officials from the Ministry of Transport and the GSA is in Abidjan. Meetings Dr Mbiah told the Daily Graphic that the Ivorian trade directive was taken at the highest level in Cote d'lvoire and so could not be overturned easily. He said his team had met the stranded drivers and officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the border and Customs officials of Cote d'Ivoire separately. The team, among other things, had found that not all the trucks were from Ghana, as earlier reported, and that some of them were from Nigeria and Togo with goods such as cooking utensils, baby food, cloths and other consumable items. "It shows that some of the cargo trucks were emanating from ECOWAS member states and in some cases the trucks are carrying goods bought by women from markets in ECOWAS countries," he said. "We are in doubt why the trucks are not being given clearance to enter Cote d'lvoire," Dr Mbiah stated. He said that was against the directive from the Cote d'lvoire Ministry of Finance which indicated that only goods originating from ECOWAS member countries could be allowed entry into the country by road, while goods from other countries were to be cleared at the sea port. Fate of truck drivers Additionally, cargo trucks with certification to show they are from ECOWAS member countries have also been denied entry into Cote d'lvoire. Dr Mbiah said he saw the development as worrying because the drivers who were required to show their certificates indicating their origin had done so but had been informed to get the certificates authenticated in Abidjan. "That means abandoning their trucks and travelling about 176 kilometres from the border to Abidjan. That is not trade facilitation-friendly at all," he said. Sudden implementation of directive In the team's interaction with Customs officials at the Ghana side of the border, it found out that their Ivorian counterparts failed to notify them of the enforcement of the directive which had existed in the books in Cote d'lvoire since 2005 but had not been implemented. "The Customs officials said they had even cleared some trucks on the day the directive was enforced and those vehicles were returned," he said. At the meeting with the Cote d'lvoire Customs Sector Commander at Elubo, it was reported that the team had been informed that the order for the implementation of the directive had been sudden. On the situation at the Elubo Border, Dr Mbiah described it as �getting out of hand", since there were security implications as more trucks got parked at the border, with no proper security for the goods and the stranded drivers and their conductors. To ensure that more trucks did not add to the congestion at the border, Dr Mbiah said, notices had been sent to transport operators and owners to park vehicles that were bound for Elubo at the Takoradi port until the issue was resolved.