Ghana Investment Promotion Centre plans China, Middle East business mission

In an effort to attract more foreign direct investment into the country, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) is organizing a business mission to China, Turkey and the Middle East- according to an advert in the Daily Graphic.

The business mission planned to take place between April and June 2010 will seek to explore business opportunities for Ghanaian entrepreneurs, hold business seminars to discuss investment opportunities, as well as investment regulations and procedures for investing in Ghana, the advert explained.

China is one of Ghana’s main sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) leading the list of top ten investor countries in Ghana. The GIPC’s Quarterly Investment Report for July to December 2009 indicated that China had topped the list of countries with the highest number of projects registered in the country. It is therefore not surprising that a mission to China is on the horizon.

Ghana’s exports to China totaled only $25 million with imports of $93 million in the year 2000. Exports grew to $32 million in 2003 with imports of $180 million.

Trade between Ghana and China has grown over the years. In 2005 trade between the two countries was $769 million.

In 2006, the figure went up to $39 million for exports while imports surged to $504 million.

China recently gave Ghana some undisclosed financial support to be used to develop infrastructure for the country’s nascent oil industry.

Bilateral cooperation between the two countries has also being strengthened with several Chinese grants for road construction and oil infrastructure development. Recently the Chinese government promised to support Ghana to rebuild its Foreign Affairs Ministry after it was destroyed by fire last year.

By Dode Seidu