Mr Kwaku Akosah- Bempah, Special Assistant to the Chief Executive of Ashanti Goldfields Company, has noted that as results of the confidence generated by the government many international investors are convinced that Ghana is the right place for mining investment.
?Recent developments in this country, I am sure, attest to the fact that the mining sector is still a major player in the transformation of the Ghanaian economy for which the government has committed itself and has subsequently declared this period the ?Golden Age of Business??.
Mr. Akosah-Bempah was speaking at a breakfast meeting hosted by gold mining companies operating in Ghana for a 41-strong international financial analysts and fund managers, who were in the country last week for a 4-day visit in Accra.
While in the country, the investment experts visited mining operations in Akyempim, Tarkwa, Damang, Bogosu, Prestea, Wassa and Obuasi to see how these operations were performing, and the prospects they held for the discerning investor and other stakeholders, and to communicate same to the global mining and investment community.
Mr Akosah-Bempah noted that the presence of the analysts and fund managers in the country was enough testimony to the fact that recent developments in Ghana?s mining sector deserved a closer attention from you all.
?We believe you have traveled from all over the world ? South Africa, Australia, Europe, Canada and the US to be able to assess, from the closest range, the developments taking place in the mining sector and also acquaint yourselves with the Ghanaian mining environment.
We assure you that you will be given every opportunity to work on your models through the visits, presentations and meetings we have planned for you during your short stay?.
He said the important visit was taking place at a time when Ashanti is seeking to evolve into a bigger global entity.
Simply put, the objective of the Company is to collaborate with a credible and resourceful partner for the mutual benefit of the two companies and their respective stakeholders.
Among many other things, clearly, the envisaged company will also emerge as a major Pan African Company in a manner, which will enable it to symbolize the widely proclaimed New Economic Partnership for Africa (NEPAD), he said.
The $1.45 billion Ashanti/AngloGold merger transaction, he disclosed, has been placed before the Parliament of Ghana and ?we believe the nation?s legislature will endorse the views of the many mining and financial experts, who have welcomed the prospect as a very significant development in global mining?. It has since been approved.
Mr. Akosah-Bempah said ?We are equally delighted at the entry of currently the world?s largest gold producer, Newmont Gold Corporation, into the Ghanaian mining scene.
Together with the major steps that Goldfields Ghana, Golden Star and other mining companies and their affiliates, have taken to deepen their presence in the country, we believe the mining industry in Ghana has truly turned a new page.
Clearly, for any serious player in the global gold mining industry, the place to be and or to know about is ?the Gold Coast?, or if you like ? Ghana.?
Mr. Kwasi Abeasi, Chief Executive of Ghana Investment Centre, said that Ghana is the only country in the world with a full ministry for the development of the private sector, which showed the importance the current government attached to the private sector.
Mr Abeasi said the government had adopted a host of financial and fiscal measures to attract both local and foreign investment to create enabling environment for everybody who has surplus capital to invest.
?Ghana?, he assured ?is looking for investment of all kinds and there is room for all who have the capital to invest?.
