Ghana to hold bilateral business forum in Moscow

As a further step in reaching out to the entire business and industrial community in Russia and, exploring new and ingenious ways to effectively collaborate and bolster business partnerships, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Ghana to the Russian Federation and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), H.E. (Dr.) Kodzo Kpoku Alabo, on Monday, called on the Vice-President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Georgy Petrov, at the Chamber in Moscow.

Present at the meeting were Minister/Deputy Head of Mission (Mrs.) Lydia O. Amartey and Head of Chancery Mr. Moses Evonlah both from the Ghana Embassy and Deputy Director at the International Cooperation Department Tatiana Legchilina and Chief Expert at the International Cooperation Department Andrey Efimenko.

The following issues were discussed during the meeting between Vice-President Georgy Petrov and H.E. Ambassador of Ghana K. Alabo.

General questions on Russian-Ghana business cooperation and ways of broadening the cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Embassy of the Republic of Ghana.

Mr. Petrov mentioned that the trade volume between the two countries in 2014 was a mere US$153 million which was on the level of 2013.

In the period January-August 2015, the trade volume has increased on 37% in comparison with the same period 2014 to US$122 million.

There is a lot potential in cooperation in the energy sector (for instance, Lukoil Overseas which is Russia's largest private oil company in the world, despite bad results on drilling the company still continue to stay in Ghana).

Ghana is one of the leading world exporters of cocoa beans, that's why Ghana is interested in attracting foreign investors, including Russians to establish processing plants, which could add value to the raw cocoa beans in Ghana before they are exported to Russia and other CIS countries to meet the high demand there for Ghana's premium cocoa, said H.E. Ambassador Alabo.

The Ghanaian officials are very keen to promote the investment opportunities in available to the government, industry, financial and business investors, and place on the agenda particularly growth-stimulating areas such as infrastructure, trade, energy, agriculture and agro-processing.

Dr. Alabo mentioned that most of the investment potential of Ghana could be discussed during a bilateral business forum, which he proposed could be organized in Moscow next year (March-April 2016).

The forum will help to raise the level of economic cooperation and to strengthen many-sided interaction among participating government officials from ministries and departments, and invited participants from carefully selected economic and industrial sectors as well as medium-scale businesses from the private sector from the regions in the Russian Federation.

Vice-President Petrov supported this initiative to hold the forum, adding that it was a key tool for creating awareness among the potential investors, business leaders and industry directors, as well as for identifying unique investment opportunities in both Ghana and Russia.