No laws would be passed to nationalize foreign assets in Ghana

Accra, March 20, GNA - Vice President John Mahama on Friday moved to assure the international business community about government's commitment to protect their investments, declaring that no laws would be passed to nationalize such assets.

He said investors should harbour "no fears" about their financial outlays in Ghana, as a cornerstone of the Mills' administration was to showcase Ghana as an ideal destination for business in the West African sub-region.

Meeting with a Chinese business delegation at the Castle, Osu, Vice President Mahama referred to Ghana's investment code that details incentive packages aimed at guaranteeing a good return for investors in some critical sectors of the Ghanaian economy and asked them to take advantage of it.

The delegation which was led by Mr Wei Zhang, Vice-Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), is under the aegis of Sino-ECOWAS Commission Trade forum, aimed promoting trade between Chinese entrepreneurs and their West African counterparts. The forum, which began in September 2008, attempts to link Chinese investors with their West African counterparts in line with the ECOWAS Commission's policy of promoting macro-economic stability in West African economies.

Vice President Mahama said, although Ghana and China had cooperated well at the governmental level, this had been lacking among their business communities and called for a reversal of the situation. He named the on-going construction of the Bui Hydro Dam and the reconstruction of the Ofankor-Nsawam road into a dual carriageway as among the many projects the Chinese government had funded in promoting the relation between the two countries.

Vice President Mahama called for an effective partnership between the Chinese private sector and Ghanaian entrepreneurs in the area of agro-processing, textile manufacturing and the steel industry. He cited government's policy on free zones that allows foreign investors to produce and export goods at preferential rates as among incentives government was offering the private sector to enable them have a stake in the Ghanaian economy.

He expressed the readiness of government to collaborate with CCPIT to produce bauxite in Ghana as that falls in line with the aspiration of government to build an integrated alumina industry in the country. Other areas of cooperation that the Vice President underlined included the energy sector, considering the fact that Ghana want to ensure sufficient energy to enhance accelerated industrial development. He said 16 potential hydro sites, capable of producing 60 megawatts of electricity each have been earmarked for construction and called for partnership in those areas. Mr Wei Zhang described Ghana as ideal place of investment and promised the commitment of the Chinese government to offer the necessary support in expanding Ghana's economy in the rail, agriculture and mineral sectors. Professor Lambert N'galadjo Bamba, ECOWAS Commissioner in-charge of Macro-Economic Policy, commended Ghana for her political strides, but urged the government to replicate its democratic successes on the macro-economic terrain. 20 March 09