GIPC looks to Europe for strategic investment partnerships

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Yofi Grant will be leading a 50-member business delegation made up of four public sector agencies on an investment promotion mission to Europe.

The mission scheduled from 18th to 27th November 2019 is being organized in collaboration with the Embassies of Denmark and Norway in Ghana and the Embassy of Sweden based in Nigeria.

The Centre is also working closely with Ghana’s Embassy in Denmark, which has concurrent accreditation to Sweden and Ghana’s Embassy in Norway.

The objective of this mission is to present a cross section of Ghanaian private sector with bankable projects and other business interests for partnership and other forms of collaboration with their peers in the respective countries. It is also to pursue bilateral trade and investments opportunities that will in the long run boost the economies of these countries.

Members of the public sector agencies including Ghana Free Zones Authority (GEPA), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Petroleum Commission and State Interests and Governance Authority will visit Denmark, Sweden and Norway to present investment opportunities in Ghana to the business and investor communities in these countries.

The mission will lay emphasis on multisectoral development encompassing (Port logistics, housing, transport), Food and Agriculture, Water & Environment (wastewater and waste management, Agri-waste to energy, recycling), Information and Communication Technology, Financial Technology, and Renewable Energy.

Highlights of the mission include a business forum, business to business meetings, and company site visits in each country as well as meeting with Ghanaian business owners in Denmark and Norway.

The GIPC has so far registered 123 projects from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway from September 1994 to June 2019 with a total estimated project value of $250,593,289.84. The projects are spread in the sectors of agriculture, building and construction, export trading, general trading, liaison, manufacturing, services and tourism.

Giving the rationale for the mission, Mr Grant said the choice of destination for the investment mission formed part of a strategic process of engaging with Europe and the European Union.

“As we all know Norway is an oil producing country that has developed using the resource and is also looking outward for investments. The three countries of Scandinavia are, therefore, of strategic importance to Ghana in terms of how they have developed their small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be global players”, he said

Additionally, he said, the European countries had many SMEs looking to manufacture in Africa and as such expectations from the mission will include partnerships in the SME space in machine tooling and agro-processing, technology and animal husbandry among others.

For her part, the Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, Mrs Tove Degnbol, said although the three Scandinavian countries have their own economic profile, they shared a focus on ‘green solutions’ such as use of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate resilience.

“They are all seafaring nations with several centuries of experience of international trade coupled with high standards of living. There is, therefore, a keen interest in the business communities in the three countries to further developing trade and investment relations with Ghana”, she added.