The trade volume between Ghana and Switzerland shot up to $2.5 billion last year from $1.5 billion in the previous year, the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Philip Stalder has announced.
He said, gold and cocoa exports from Ghana which was the bulk of the trade contributed to the increase, maintaining the country as Swiss’ second biggest trading partner in Africa after South Africa.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, ahead of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s visit to the country on Friday, he said the two countries were working to boost further their trade relations.
The two-day visit, on the invitation of President of Swiss Confederation, Simonetta Sommaruga makes President Akufo-Addo the first Sub-Saharan leader to do so in more than 60 years.
High on the agenda of discussions are the establishment of closer ties in the fight against climate change, trade and economic relations and support for peace and security.
According to Mr Stalder, Switzerland had invested more than $370 million in Ghana within the 60 years of its diplomatic cooperation across several sectors, under its economic cooperation and development.
Touching on Ghana’s 2020 elections, he said his country was hopeful that its West African partner would uphold its track record as the beacon of peaceful elections in Africa.
Asked of his views on corruption, the ambassador said for every country to develop, it needed to fight the cancer in addition to a sound public financing and robust revenue mobilisation.
“The bilateral relations between Ghana and Switzerland are excellent and rich in tradition”, he said and reaffirmed his country’s commitment to deepen the relation for mutual benefits.
Delving into the economic development cooperation of Swiss, the head of Cooperation of Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Ghana, Matthias Feldmann, said Ghana had been one of the 13 priority countries of his country since 2002.
He said the objectives of the development cooperation included the building of strong and accountable institutions that deliver effective public service and improvement of competitive and diversification of the economy.
Other areas, he said, were supporting decentralisation to improve local service delivery and contribute to inclusive economic development as well as supporting the upscale of domestic revenue mobilisation.
Through SECO, he said the European country had provided support for electricity distribution in erstwhile Northern Region and Central Region under the Ghana Electricity Sector Support project.
As the country formulates its economic cooperation and development for the next four years, he said “Ghana will continue to be a priority” because of his country’s desire to see Ghana’s socio-economic growth.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR