Expect more German companies in Ghana - German Ambassador to Ghana

The German Ambassador to Ghana, Christoph Retzlaff, has hinted at a possible increase in the number of German companies operating in Ghana in the next few months.

Christoph Retzlaff observed this will mark a dawn in the bilateral relationship between Ghana and Germany and will hopefully, contribute significantly to the country's development and achievement of the Ghana Beyond Aid Vision of the Akufo-Addo led government.

This follows a recent announcement by the German Chancellor Angela Mikel during her recent official state visit to Ghana that its leading car manufacturing company has advanced plans to set up an assembly plant in Ghana.

The news has been greeted with anxiety and huge prospects as the government implement's its much-touted industrialisation initiative of 1D1F.

The two countries also signed a couple of Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) that will see the establishment of other factories in Ghana along with the car assembly plant.

The German Ambassador to Ghana suggested that though the two countries engage in some trade, its volume is nothing to boast about. He expressed his country's readiness to increase substantially its trade volume from the current amount of about £45 million.

"We have a long-standing cooperation between our two countries focusing on three pillars; Sustainable economic development, agriculture and good governance and our overall aim of this cooperation is to support the President of Ghana's vision - Ghana Beyond Aid. One of our main goals in our cooperation and this is what our German Chancellor underlined when she met the President here on Thursday is to bring more investments to Ghana. For the time being the German investment in the country is still quite limited, about 45 million Euros only. There is room for improvement and we are working very hard on the German side and also with the Government of Ghana for investments and ultimately to create jobs for the young people in Ghana to give them a perspective here," Christoph Retzlaff proposed.

He was speaking at the launch of the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (MIAC) Job Fair held in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

The MIAC Job Fair 2018 is being attended by 300 mostly unemployment Ghanaian youth and 30 companies with a target of offering 100 on-site employment opportunities by end of programme on Tuesday, 4th September 2018.

It is the expectation of the Ambassador that the programme will be replicated to the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions soon and subsequently all regions of the country.

Addressing the gathering at the launch of the event, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Employment and Labour Relations Minister, was optimistic that the initiative will equip a lot more youth with skills needed for the job market so it could reduce the unemployment rate in Ghana and reduce the tendency of youth from illegally migrating the country.

Ignatius Baffour Awuah asserted that this initiative coupled with the numerous initiatives introduced by government has provided meaningful jobs for the unemployed in the country.



The Minister further hinted that before the end of the year, detailed records of all employment created by government and occupied by Ghanaians will be released just as was done in March this year.

The Ghana-German Center for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration is part of the Global Programme Migration for Development which is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by GIZ in collaboration with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations with the objective to advice on employment and educational perspectives for the Ghanaian youth, returnees and intending migrants alike.

Participants were taken through two weeks of grooming in best corporate practices, branding, cv writing and selling one's skills and abilities to find the right job.



The two-day event which began with the launch and opening addresses today 3rd September will end on 4th September 2018 with the interviewing of participants by the 30 registered companies and immediate on-site place into available 100 vacancies.