Yaw Osafo-Maafo with some investors
As part of the celebration of black history month in the United States of America, organizers of the Black History Festival, YALI TV have wooed investors to consider the viability of investing in Ghana.
On the first day of the week-long celebration (from 21st February to 27th February) which cantered on ‘US-Africa trade and development forum,’ the Senior Minister and Presidential Adviser, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo who is a special guest of honour of the event happening at the African Union Mission headquarters at Washington DC mentioned that “economic relations between Ghana and US are robust and have been characterised by several business ventures and exchanges mostly within the private sector. The US is among Ghana’s principal trading partners with bilateral trade between the two countries reaching $1.8 billion in 2017 which represented a 53.61% increase over the previous year and $1.8 billion by 2019.”
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo continued “the two countries are proponents of the private sector being the driving force to transform economies, creating jobs and ultimately strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries.”
Listing ExxonMobil, Coca Cola, IBM, Cargill and Newmont Mining as some of the companies that have benefitted from investing in Ghana and US-Ghana trade relationship, the Senior Presidential Adviser added that data from Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) indicates that between 1994-2021, US investments in Ghana in the areas of Agriculture, export trade, general trade manufacturing and other 398 projects totalled about $5.2 billion.
Why investors should choose Ghana as the preferred destination to invest in Africa, Mr Osaafo Maafo listed a strong and resilient economy, favourable geographical location, better trade logistics infrastructure, human capital advantage, amongst others as some of the advantages Ghana has over its neighbouring states.
On his part, the coordinator for the Black History Festival, Mr Stephen Selassie Asuo posited that the Black History Festival is to further strengthen the ties between the US and Africa relations with emphasis on the achievements the bilateral relations have brought.
“This is the maiden edition of a lifelong Black History Festival. Next year promises to be even bigger than this year’s” Mr Asuo added.
Aside from other African country departments and agencies participating in the Black History Festival, Ghanaian departments and agencies like Ghana Investment Promotion Council, Ghana Exports Authority, Ghana Freezones Authority, amongst others are some of the participating organisations.
Ghanaian exhibitors have also benefitted from the sales of their made in Ghana products at the event.