Minister Woos Caribbean Investors

Mr. Robert Ahomka-Lindsay the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry has urged Caribbean investors in the country to take hold of long-term trade and investment opportunities in Ghana.

At the official opening of the Caribbean Trade Mission in Accra, yesterday, Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay, noted that Ghana’s economy has a lot of opportunities to offer investors.

The opportunities he said are imbedded in the Agro-processing, education, science and technology and petro-chemical industries.

The rest are; Tourism, financial services, energy, infrastructural development and real estates.

“By definition what we are trying to do is to create industrial activity and ensure that those that live outside Ghana are part of the commodity and business value chain,” he said.

Speaking on the theme “Promoting Trade and Investments – Ghana and the Caribbean,” the Deputy Minister took time to underline some strategic measures that Ghana desires to use to boost her economy.

He highlighted the “One district, one factory” agenda, which seeks to have at least one industrial processor in 216 districts spread across in the 10 regions of Ghana.

According to him, the initiative will be led by the private sector but facilitated and supported by government.

Mr. Ahomka-Lindsay assured the “to-be” investors that the “One district, one factory” was an initiative worth investing in.

He further noted that the agenda will fundamentally change the base of Ghana’s economy from a two-product producing nation―Gold and Cocoa to a 12-commodity producing and exporting country.

“It’s our intention that at least one industrial processor will be set up by the private sector in each of the districts and must have the capacity and potential to fundamentally enhance the economy of that district,” the deputy minister said.

The other strategies highlighted were; Establishment of a petrol chemical industry, Integrated Aluminium industry, Ghana in textiles and Industrial self-contracting.

Ghana’s Economy Thrives on SME’s

The Deputy Minister attributed the booming success of Ghana’s economy to the presence of Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME’s) and encouraged private investors to partner with them.

“In any economy in the world, it is the SME’s that drive job creation and value creation.

“A lot of innovation is driven from the SME’s and as a government and country we realise that if we do not involve our SME’s in the value chains that are created, we will not maintain and be able to get the benefit of industrial transformation,” he noted.

According to the Acting Managing Director of HFC, Mr. Anthony Jordan, “the significance the summit is to facilitate long-term trade and investment opportunities with the unique focus of establishing business alliances between Ghana Business and the Ghanaian counterparts that will lead to mutually beneficial economic transformations.

The Trade Mission

The Trade Summit which was organised by HFC Bank (Ghana) Limited, in collaboration with its parent company, Republic Financial Holdings Limited, brought together over 30 companies and institutions including business people, investors, policy makers and industry leaders from Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and Surinam.

Source: Grace Ablewor Sogbey/[email protected]