Indo-Ghana Chamber of Commerce Launched in Delhi

By Yaw Kyei, New Delhi, India

The Indo-Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an association made up of captains of industries from Ghana and business moguls in India, was inaugurated at New Delhi on Monday.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India and the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry to that effect.

The purpose of the chamber is to create a platform for Indian businesses to invest in Ghana and vice-versa through partnerships, joint ventures, direct investments, among others.

The chamber was formed following a meeting between a business delegation, led by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, from Ghana and their Indian counterparts here.

The meeting was initiated by Ghana's High Commissioner to India, Mike Oquaye Jnr, with the aim to create an opportunity for the Ghanaian delegation to showcase Ghana's investment potentials to the Indian businessmen and women.

The Ghanaian delegation included the Deputy Minister of Power, William Owuraku Aidoo, CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Mr Yoofi Grant, Nana (Dr) Appiagyei Dankawoso I, President, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others.

They made separate presentations on Ghana's success story in the management of its macro economy, investment potentials in petroleum, agriculture, minerals, among others.

Mr Kyerematen, in an address, said Ghana's budding oil and gas industry, coupled with the government's commitments to create a petrochemical industry, had created opportunities for investments in areas such as oil refinery.

He said the government had embarked on an industrial transformation to develop the country as a modern industrialised economy capable of creating sustainable jobs and wealth.

The Minister indicated that President Akufo-Addo's administration was committed to food security in Ghana through its Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme among others.

He said the government was going to establish an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry, automobile assembling industry, and establish a factory in every district in Ghana and urged the Indian business men and women to take advantage of the opportunities available.

Additionally, he said the government had planned to manufacture industrial starch and indicated that cassava, which would be the main crop for manufacturing the industrial starch, currently contributed to 25 per cent of Ghana's agricultural GDP.

He noted that farmers would produce cassava for food and as a cash crop to feed the industries that would be manufacturing the industrial starch.

Another important reason that makes Ghana an attractive destination for investors, according to Mr Kyerematen, is the fact that the country has duty free quotas to the United States and Europe and urged the Indians to take advantage of such trade agreements.

He said the entire African market would soon be opened up to allow investors to enter every country on the continent without any restrictions.

"If you invest in Ghana, you can get access to all the countries on the continent. This gives you access to hundreds of millions of people," he said.

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