Trade Ministry unveils Ghana’s programme of action

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has unveiled Ghana’s programme of action as it prepares to participate in the upcoming international business exposition in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai.

 Dubbed: Expo 2020 Dubai, the event which was initially slated for last year had to be rescheduled to this year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

It is on the theme: “Connecting minds, creating the future” and about 192 countries are expected to participate in the event, attracting between 25 to 30 million participants across the globe.

Ghana’s participation in the six months exposition would offer it the opportunity to showcase its business and investment opportunities to the global business community as part of its drive to attract Foreign Direct Investment into the country.

Addressing the media in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Herbert Krapa said Ghana had chosen “Ghana: Limitless opportunities” as its theme for the event which would enable ministers of state and government officials to promote the various business and investment opportunities to the global audience.

He said to elaborate more on the theme for the event, sustainability, mobility and opportunity had been selected as sub-themes and Ghana had modeled its participation of the sub-theme opportunity.

“The choice of the theme is based on today’s highly interconnected world, a renewed vision of progress and development based on shared purpose and commitment,” he emphasised.

Mr Krapa explained that, Ghana’s participation in the expo was intended to underscore the government’s industrial transformation agenda, promote private sector businesses and showcase investment opportunities to attract investment into critical sectors of the economy.

He noted that the areas to be looked at would include energy, trade, water and sanitation, environment, agriculture, education and tourism.

“It will also offer us an opportunity to display our rich cultural heritage, promote value addition to our abundant raw materials and highlight our friendly business climate,” he emphasised.

The Minister said Ghana’s pavilion at the expo would present a brief overview of the country’s vision and plan for future stable, mutual-value approach to investment, reputation as the gateway to Africa and commitment to future driven by business and Investment.

In addition to this, the pavilion would be segmented into three zones of the business cluster, the culture cluster and the Ghana report zone.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Yoofi Grant, said some key thematic areas that would be highlighted at the event would  include agriculture and agro processing, water and sanitation, culture and creative arts, food security, housing and construction, tourism and hospitality, lands and natural resources, environment and climate change issues.

He said the country had chosen to highlight the opportunities in every sector with November targeted at the housing and construction industry and engage with strategic investors.

In December, the focus he said would be on Ghana’s education sector and textile and garments industry, with special exposition on Kente.

Similarly the month of January 2022 would highlight Ghana’s technological and digital economy and explore avenues for partnerships and the healthcare sector.

With last quarter of January same year focused on throwing more light on investment and trade opportunities in Ghana.

As part of the event, “Ghana Day” or “National Day Engagement” had been scheduled for March 8 and 9.

The national day is a day set aside by the organisers for participating countries to mount a special parade on business and investment opportunities available in their respective countries to a global audience.

President Nana AddoDankwaAkufo-Addo would lead a delegation from Ghana to the EXPO on March 8 and would hold Presidential Roundtable discussions on “government to business engagement, and networking session with private sector players on investment opportunities in Ghana,” he said

BY CLIFF EKUFUL