The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, in cooperation with the Ghana Consulate-General and with
support of the Economist Intelligence Unit, hosted ‘Country Focus
Briefing: The Republic of Ghana’ on Wednesday, as part of its efforts to
consolidate bilateral ties between Dubai’s business community and their
African counterparts.
The briefing was attended by Abdul Rahman Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman
of the Dubai Chamber; Haruna Iddrisu, Ghana’s Minister of Trade and
Industry; Tony Kutteng, Deputy Consul-General of the Consulate-General
of Ghana in Dubai; Dr Seth Adjei Baah, president of the Ghana Chamber of
Commerce and Industry; Mawuena Trebarh, chief executive officer of the
Ghana Investment Promotion Centre; and a large number of business
leaders from the UAE and Ghana.
In his welcome address, Al Ghurair highlighted Ghana as a rewarding
option for Emirati investment. This is the reason why the Dubai Chamber
is soon going to open its representative office in the Ghanaian capital
Accra, which will serve as a gateway for UAE investments in the
promising market of the country.
He called upon Dubai businesses to enhance bilateral ties with
African businesses, particularly Ghana, in the sectors of mining,
energy, retail, agriculture and banking, which Dubai companies have good
experience in, especially in the area of retail banking services. Al
Ghurair further stressed that Ghana is currently 34th on Dubai’s list of
top trading partners as non-oil trade between the two rose to Dh8.9
billion in 2013, registering a 4.7 per cent growth in comparison to
2012.
He also highlighted Dubai’s status as a gateway to the region,
stating that the emirate serves as a fitting platform for international
investments to the Ghanaian market, while the new Dubai Chamber office
will help the emirate’s businesses to expand into the promising market
of the African country.
Al Ghurair invited the visiting delegation to attend the Dubai
Chamber-organised Africa Global Business Forum 2014 in October. which he
said will promote Dubai’s role as a gateway to Africa and explore new
business prospects between Africa and Dubai.
In his keynote address, Iddrisu said that his country is the best
place to do business in Africa and is the potential market to reach out
to the rest of the continent and the 350 million consumers in the
region. It is also one of the largest gold producers in Africa, he
added.
Iddrisu further stated that his country was looking forward to
developing a strong bilateral relationship with Dubai in light of the
Ghanaian government’s policy in encouraging public-private sector
partnership. He said that Ghana is an excellent option for investment
due to its political stability and abundance of natural resources.
He stressed that Ghana can serve as a centre for UAE investments in
the Economic Community of West African States, while Dubai businesses
can explore investment opportunities across a number of lucrative
sectors in Ghana, including infrastructure development, energy, tourism,
mining and agriculture and agri-processing as well as petrochemical,
aluminium and gold smelting industries.
Dr Baah said that his many visits to Dubai have always impressed him
as the emirate has set an example for Ghana to emulate. He expressed his
country’s desire to benefit from Dubai’s experience in tourism,
information technology, financial services, telecommunications and
construction, stating that his country has a shortage of up to 1.7
million housing units.
Trebarh highlighted Ghana’s investment potential stating that the
country stands amongst the top five destinations for doing business in
Sub-Saharan Africa and, according to World Doing Business Report 2014,
is the best destination for ease of doing business in West Africa.
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