First UK-Ghana Business Council seeks to boost trade and investment
Foreign Office and DFID Minister Harriett Baldwin returned to Ghana to launch the UK-Ghana Business Council, which met for the first time in Accra on 14 October 2018. The Business Council, which will meet twice a year, brings both governments together to find ways to reduce barriers to trade and investment and create jobs.
Minister Baldwin said:
“Ghana increasingly offers attractive investment opportunities for UK businesses, which in turn helps create jobs and advance economic development locally. Our governments are doing everything that we can to help make it easier for entrepreneurial businesses to trade and grow.”
The Minister co-chaired the Council with Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia. The next Business Council will be held in London in December 2018.
The Business Council introduces a two-day UK-Ghana investment summit which will see a delegation of UK businesses travelling to Ghana to discuss investment opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, industry, and manufacturing with Ghanaian businesses. The Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Ghana Adam Afriyie and Trade and Export Promotion Minister Fairhead will also visit Ghana for the summit.
These discussions signal a strengthened economic development partnership between the two countries, and are expected to lead to investment that will create jobs for both UK and Ghanaian businesses, and boost local economies.
Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo, who will speak at the investment summit, has set out an ambitious vision to move Ghana beyond aid and transform the economy through industrialisation and infrastructure development creating thousands of jobs.
During her visit, Minister Baldwin met His Majesty Nana Amoatia Ofori Payin, King of Akyem, and discussed trade and development priorities. She also visited Tema Port with Border Force, who work with the local authorities to improve their monitoring and interdiction of smuggled goods at border points, cracking down on smuggling gangs.
Minister Baldwin last visited Ghana in August, immediately before joining the Prime Minister’s visit to Nigeria and Kenya. The Prime Minister travelled with a delegation of British businesses, with a focus on strengthening trade ties across the continent, where the UK is already the second largest investor.
