News

2019 “The Year of Return” for the African Diaspora

January 24, 2019 - In the month of September 2018 in Washington, DC Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo-Addo, formally launched the “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” for Africans in the Diaspora, reinvigorating the quest to unite Africans on the continent with their brothers and sisters in the diaspora. At that event, President Akufo-Addo said, “We know of the extraordinary achievements and contributions they [Africans in the diaspora] made to the lives of Americans, and it is important that in this symbolic year—400 years later—we commemorate their existence and their sacrifices.” More than 40 Hollywood celebrities stormed Accra, Ghana this past Christmas to kick off the “Year of Return 2019.” The town’s tourist sites, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs were crawling with top stars such as Idris Elba, Naomi Campbell, Boros Kojoe, Michael Jai White, Anthony Andersen, Jidenna, Gbourey Sidibe, Rosario Dawson, and Nicole Parker…...just to name a few. Boris Kodjoe, whose father is a Ghanaian, was appointed Ambassador of Film for Ghana by Catherine Afeku, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in May 2018. In November 2018, the actor announced in a video that he planned to bring 40 of his celebrity friends to Ghana for the Christmas Holidays. From the photos, it appears that our celebrity guests enjoyed Ghana’s vibrant culture, people, and food. WTC Accra invites our fellow WTCA members to take part in “The Year of Return.” Come explore Ghana in 2019! Read More

WTC Accra Attends 124th China Import/Export Fair

January 24, 2019 - As a result of the increasingly important role in trade cooperation between Ghana and China, WTC Accra collaborated with the China Centre for Foreign Trade (CCFT-organisers of the Fair) and the Commercial section of the Chinese Embassy in Ghana to organize a delegation of over 100 companies to attend the 124th Canton Fair held in Guangzhou, China. The China Import and Export Fair (also known as the Canton Fair), was established in 1957and is a biannual trade fair held every spring and autumn. Each session has 3 phases and about 200,000 buyers attend the Fair from more than 210 countries and regions all over the world. The 124th session of the Canton fair was held from 15th October to 4th November, 2018 at the China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex, Guangzhou, China. The Canton Fair has now become the most comprehensive trade show with the longest history and largest scale. It also has the most exhibit variety, the broadest distribution of overseas buyers, and the greatest business turnover in China. WTC Accra’s attendance at the fair supports its efforts to provide local businesses with access to import and export opportunities across the globe. To kick start the event, a promotional event was organized by WTC Accra at its Convention Centre on August 14, 2018 with support from CCFT and the Chinese embassy. From WTC Accra’s standpoint, the Canton Fair is truly a world trade platform and could provide a great opportunity for Africans especially Ghanaians to participate and showcase the richness of Africa at the international pavilion. Read More

Students from KNUST Win Prize at Enactus World Cup

December 18, 2018 - A team of 52 students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana were awarded prizes for two innovative projects presented at the 2018 Enactus World Cup held in San Jose, California. The REECOPLAST water and sanitation project seeks to address pollution resulting from the indiscriminate dumping of plastic waste by Nsawam Adoagyiri residents washed into the Densu River. The project involved three phases 1.) Creating awareness 2.) A clean up exercise 3.) Introduction of measures to increase the river’s lifespan. The team also received an award for the Bidigreen project which introduced a sustainable alternative to hardwood charcoal. The Bidigreen charcoal, produced from agricultural waste is smokeless, burns two to three times longer than wood-based charcoal, helps curtail deforestation, and requires less production time (maximum of two days compared to two weeks for the same quantity of wood-based charcoal). The Enactus World Cup is an annual event held every year, which brings together an international network of students, academic, and business leaders to showcase their entrepreneurial action and innovative ideas to address the most important issues affecting the world. During the final competition, 72,000 students from 36 countries showcase their projects that not only have potential to make a difference in the world, but has the momentum to create new careers, spark business innovation, and deliver fresh energy for social impact. The World Trade Centres Association Foundation is a corporate sponsor and supporter of the Enactus World Cup. To learn more visit www.enactus.org/worldcup/. Read More

WTC Accra Meets with African Diplomatic Corps

July 23, 2018 - As part of its contribution to improving intra-Africa trade and investment and continental integration, the World Trade Centre Accra, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe High Commission in Ghana, held a meeting on July 10, 2018 with members of the African Diplomatic Corps to discuss, “The Role of Diplomacy in Promoting Intra-Africa Trade.” Togbe Afede XIV, Executive Chairman of WTC Accra and Board Member of World Trade Centres Association (WTCA), gave the opening remarks and Her Excellency Pavelyn Tendai Musaka, the Zimbabwe High Commissioner to Ghana, presented the keynote address. The meeting was held at the World Trade Centre Accra. In attendance were members of the African Diplomatic Corps and representatives from various ministries and trade agencies, including Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ghana Free Zones Board, and Ghana Export Promotion Authority. The purpose of the meeting was to stress the importance of diplomatic involvement in promoting regional trade and to discuss how embassies can work directly with trade promotion agencies, such as the World Trade Centre Accra, to increase trade and investment between their host and home countries. Madam Musaka opened her keynote address by firmly asking, “The private sector has led when it comes to trade and investment, but what is the role of the Ambassador and the embassy?” She went on to describe her embassy’s strategic relationship with World Trade Centre Accra and her proactive role in working with WTC Accra to organize and take part in two trade and investment missions to Zimbabwe in June 2018. She expressed the hope that the visits would generate investment in Zimbabwe’s agriculture, power, mining, banking and finance sectors, and also lead to the establishment of World Trade Centre Harare. Her Excellency’s address was well received by her colleagues and other guests. Edward Ashong-Lartey, Director of Investment Services at Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, corroborated her message, stating, “We all know that trade & investment go together. First, we must produce, and then, we must trade. Now with the signing of the Continental Free Trade Agreement, government and the private sector must work together to promote trade and investment in Africa.” In his welcome address, Togbe Afede XIV stressed the importance of size and compared Africa’s size in terms of population and market, to that of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). He emphasized how Africa can learn from other trading blocs such as the European Union and leverage our size to generate significant economic benefits for the entire continent. Several diplomats, including H.E. Dr. Alhousseini Ousmane, Ambassador of Niger to Ghana, commended the initiative and expressed their support for World Trade Centre’s expansion in Africa and the continued collaboration amongst members of the African Diplomatic Corps to promote regional integration. The group agreed to convene again in September to discuss specific actions and plan quarterly meetings that would ensure regular dialogue. Read More

WTC Accra Promotes WTCA’s Africa Expansion

June 27, 2018 - As part of its contribution to improving intra-Africa trade and investment, and continental integration, the World Trade Centre Accra has started rolling out a number of initiatives that will lead to the expansion of the World Trade Centre concept across Africa and further promote intra-Africa trade and regional integration. As part of these initiatives, World Trade Centre Accra (in Ghana, West Africa) has established a strategic partnership with the Embassy of Zimbabwe in Accra to promote trade and investment between Ghana and Zimbabwe (in southern Africa). In May 2018, WTC Accra undertook a trade and investment mission to Zimbabwe to explore investment opportunities in that country. The mission was led by Jane Reindorf-Attoh, Managing Director, WTC Accra and Togbe Afede XIV, the Executive Chairman, WTC, Accra and Board Member of World Trade Centre Association (WTCA). The delegation comprised of nine Ghanaian business executives and a UK business executive. A follow-up mission took place in June 2018, led by Togbe Afede XIV and H.E. Pavelyn Tendai Musaka, the Zimbabwe High Commissioner to Ghana. This mission comprised of eight Chinese and three Ghanaian business executives, who went to discuss investment opportunities identified during the previous mission in key sectors such as power, mining, and financial services. Togbe Afede XIV stressed the need to “expand intra-Africa trade to ensure the socio-economic development of the African Continent.” He encouraged African governments to consider having WTCs established in their capital cities to promote intra-African trade and investment. In expressing his conviction, Dr. Michael Bimha, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development, said, “The Government of Zimbabwe would work with the private sector to embrace the World Trade Centre concept to announce to the world that Zimbabwe is open for business.” “We decided to come to Zimbabwe as a starting point in WTC Accra’s regional trade and investment drive”, said Ms. Riendorf-Attoh. She added that, “promoting trade and investment on the African continent is an imperative, especially with the coming into being of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement that was signed in March 2018 to create a single market that will cover more than 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of more than US$3.4 trillion.” The delegation visited the Zimbabwean Investment Authority (ZIA), the National Trade Development and Promotion Organization of Zimbabwe (ZimTrade), the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning, the Ministry of Mines of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), Pangoula Farm, Almin Metal Industries Limited, Gemore PLC, and several other companies in the private sector. In July 2018, World Trade Centre Accra, in collaboration with Ghana’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Trade will hold a meeting with members of the Africa Diplomatic Corps in Ghana to discuss regional integration and the World Trade Centre concept. In the coming months, World Trade Centre Accra will undertake a number of trade and investment missions to other African countries to promote the World Trade Centre concept as an important vehicle for intra-Africa trade and investment. Read More

WTC Accra and Miami collaborate to promote trade

April 17, 2018 - As part of the WTCA’s objective of stimulating trade and investment among its members, WTC Accra is partnering WTC Miami to promote two-way trade between Ghana and USA. In view of this, Mrs. Kemi Arosanyin, Director of Africa Trade Expansion of the World Trade Center Miami paid a visit to WTC Accra on 14th March, 2018. Mrs. Kemi disclosed that the World Trade Center Miami (WTCM) has developed an Africa Trade Expansion Program to specifically assist African governments tackle some of the crucial issues facing the continent on trade and investment. In explaining details of the initiative to officials of WTC Accra, Mrs. Kemi indicated that the Africa Trade Expansion Program is a specialized “Export Development Program” which offers a combination of trade assistance services and market access to the Americas. It focuses on helping African small businesses in 3 main sectors (Food and Beverage, Textile and Fashion, Arts and Crafts) increase exports and integrate globally. To this end companies selected by the government will be trained in the areas of Product Profiling and Export Readiness Examination, Market Research and Market Intelligence, Trade Consulting and Export Seminars, Buyers Matchmaking and Market Penetration Strategies. The Managing Director of WTC Accra indicated that through the programme, the two WTCs will be helping to address the long standing issue of Ghana’s inability to adequately benefit from the opportunities presented under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). He disclosed that the programme has come at an opportune time since besides the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), skills acquired by exporters can also be applied to access other markets such as the African Union Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). As part of Mrs. Kemi’s visit, a meeting was subsequently held with the CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, Ms. Gifty Klenam and the Acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr. Padi Adjirakor. A presentation was made on the programme which was accepted by the two government institutions. The Chief Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry agreed to work together with the WTC Accra to ensure that Ghana signs onto the programme. The Director of Africa Trade Expansion used the occasion to invite a delegation from Ghana to attend the 22nd Americas Food & Beverage Show and Conference in Miami on October 1-2, 2018. Read More

President Appoints Togbe Afede as NIB Board Chair

August 18, 2017 - ACCRA, GHANA- President Nana Akufo Addo in consultation with the council of state has appointed the President of the National House of Chiefs and executive chairman of World Trade Centre Accra (WTC Accra) Togbe Afede XIV as the board chairman of the National Investment Bank (NIB). Togbe Afede was the board chairman of the NIB during John Mahama’s era. According to players in the financial industry he is the best person to drive the fortunes of the bank. Read More

WTCAccra Promotes One District One Factory Project

June 8, 2017 - ACCRA, GHANA - World Trade Center Accra (WTC Accra), Ghana’s leading trade and investment promotion organization has participated in a Seminar on International Production Capacity Cooperation for Belt & Roads (B&R) Countries organized by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). The seminar which commenced on 26th April and ended on 18th May 2017, brought together government and private sector officials from more than 16 B & R countries. The Belt & Roads Initiative is a development strategy proposed by the leader of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, to promote connectivity and cooperation between China, Asia, Europe and Africa. According to Mr. Li Dawei, an expert from the National Development and Reform Commission of China, the B & R initiative is an all-inclusive one that welcomes the participation of any country in the world. It covers industries such as textiles, light industry, household appliance, electronics, automobile, communication, agriculture, steel, non-ferous metals, petroleum, chemical engineering, building materials, energy, railways, highways, airports, ports, research and development, consulting, professional services, business services, machinery, shipping and transportation equipments. As part of the seminar, the Head of Research and Trade Education at the World Trade Center Accra, Mr. Bright Awuye, presented Ghanaian investment opportunities to over 150 investors in sectors such as solar, oil and gas, ceramics, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, machinery and construction.He told the investors that contrary to popular opinion that elections in Africa leads to conflict, Ghana has successfully changed government through elections, the recent one in 2017. ‘This should assure you that your investments are always secured given the fact that Ghana also strictly adheres to rule of law’, he said. According to him, China has a lot of investments in Ghana and reminded them that the good environment for investors has made this possible. Among Chinese investments and projects in Ghana, Mr. Awuye mentioned Sunon Asogli Power Plant, Ghana Gas, Tang Palace Hotel and African World Airlines, among others. He said connectivity among African countries is a major hindrance to integration efforts of the continent. As a result, Africa awaits the commercial production of Chinese made C919 airplanes. He said Africa World Airlines, which has Chinese investment and was founded by Togbe Afede XIV, the Chairman of WTC Accra, has brought tremendous dynamism to the aviation industry in Ghana and he expressed the hope that the introduction of the C919 will aid the integration of Africa and also spur Ghana-China trade. Speaking on current developments in Ghana, Mr. Awuye said the government has an agenda to quicken the pace of development in Ghana over the next four years. This is anchored on manufacturing and infrastructure development and needs foreign direct investment for success. ‘The government has established a Railway Ministry and would like to tap into China’s vast experience in railway infrastructure development’, he informed the investors. He said bilateral trade with China increased from $2billion in 2010 to $6.6billion in 2015, an increase of 221%. He told the investors that products such as footwear, chemicals, fabrics and ceramics are among the top 10 products imported from China which can easily be produced in Ghana under the government’s current flagship programme of “one district one factory”. He further explained that the Government of Ghana’s policy on one new factory per district is consistent with the Belt and Roads initiative of the People’s Republic of China. ‘What Ghana seeks is a partnership that creates a win-win for both Ghanaian investors and their Chinese partners’, he asserted. As a follow-up to a cooperation agreement signed with CCPIT Training Center in September 2016, the Head of Facilities of WTC Accra, Mr. George Bampoh, signed a cooperation agreement with the Shandong Province of CCPIT. The agreement seeks to deepen trade and investment cooperation with CCPIT and businesses in Shandong Province. Read More

Ghana Football Business Expo

May 23, 2017 - ACCRA, GHANA - World Trade Centre Accra, on the 10th day of May 2017 hosted the launch of “Ghana Football Business Expo”, with the Minister of Business Development, Hon Ibrahim M. Awal, along with US Senior Commercial Officer, Madam Tyrena Holley, Head of Ghana's National team, coach kwesi Appiah, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide, and CEO of World Trade Centre Accra Ghana, Mr Emmanuel Doni-Kwame as Special Guests and Speakers. The initiative is intended to further establish Ghana’s mutual relationship with the US and enhance collaboration among businesses in both countries as stated by Madam Tyrena Holley. The CEO of WTC Accra urged Ghanaians to utilise the opportunity. In His address, Hon Ibrahim M. Awal, Minister of Business Development, urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their businesses (in either goods and/or services) to the world at large and create a conducive environment for business in the country. Read More

‘Best Time to Invest in Ghana’ –WTC Accra Chairman

February 28, 2017 - ACCRA, GHANA - The Chairman for World Trade Centre (WTC) Accra, Togbe Afede XIV has called on potential investors to take advantage of the current political atmosphere to invest in Ghana. He made this known when a Chinese business delegation called on the World Trade Centre Accra to explore business opportunities in the country. The delegation, which was led by Qingpeng Yuan, Vice Director for China Association for Promotion of Private Sci-Tech Entreprises were on a trade and investment visit to Ghana and Kenya. The sectors represented included real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mining. Mr. Qinpeng disclosed that the choice of Ghana and Kenya for the visit is informed by their openers to do business. According to Togbe Afede XIV, WTC Accra sees Chinese businesses as strategic partners. As a result, WTC Accra has organized several missions to China, the last one in September 2016. Togbe Afede XIV indicated that China has played a vital role in Ghana’s energy sector and has also made inroads in the aviation industry. He said a partnership between Ghanaian and Chinese companies which led to the formation of African World Airline (AWA) is yielding positive impact as the airline is currently the best domestic operator in Ghana. Besides these sectors, the Chairman of WTC Accra informed the delegation that Chinese companies are also involved in roads and bridges construction, real estate, agriculture and manufacturing. He said the business environment is conducive for investors and there is no better time for Chinese investment than now. ‘The current government is interested in investors like you to help grow the economy and create jobs’ he said. He disclosed that the current government is interested in establishing factories in every district and constructing dams in every village to boost job creation and agriculture. So opportunities abound in all sectors across the country. He advised the investors to leverage CAD Fund resources in establishing the factories in Ghana. In further explaining why they should invest in Ghana, Togbe Afede XIV disclosed that Ghana is very prominent in West Africa. In addition to other advantages such as market access to more than 300 million people in the sub-region, investors have the advantage of operating in a peaceful environment. He informed the business delegation that through projects like power plants, airline and the various business visits to China, WTC Accra is adept at doing business with the Chinese. A B2B session was held between members of WTC Accra and the Chinese business delegation. To learn more about WTC Accra, please click on the source link below. Read More

President Mahama Meets the Business Community

November 17, 2016 - ACCRA, GHANA - President John Dramani says Ghana’s agricultural sector will continue to decline in favour of the services sector in terms of contribution to the economy. According to him, it was normal as a middle-income or developing economy for agriculture’s contribution to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to slump once the secondary and services sectors were thriving. “Agriculture will continue to decline and services will continue to increase; manufacturing will continue to increase; mining and quarry will continue to increase,” the President told Captains of Industry during a presidential breakfast meeting in Accra yesterday. The meeting, under the aegis of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), was the last of quarterly meetings held for this year. It was also an opportunity for the President and the government, for that matter, to acquire first-hand information on trends in the business sector and to facilitate a dialogue for workable and sustainable measures. President Mahama pointed out that Ghana’s economy was showing all the right signals even as the services sector was doing better than the agricultural sector as the highest contributor to Ghana’s GDP, which is what it should be when a country is developing. “For all the developed countries, the contribution of agriculture to GDP is the smallest; which doesn’t mean that we are not producing enough food to feedourselves," Mr Mahama added. The President said government is focused on reducing the wage bill to 40 percent by the end of 2017 and will, therefore, use all workable measures to ensure its reduction. He said wage overruns, unsustainable subsidies on petroleum products, and power crisis, placed huge economic challenges on the economy and once government was facing them head-on with the necessary interventions, the wage bill would subsequently reduce to 40 percent of revenue generated. "In that way, we will be edging towards the standards of International Labour Organisation which allows only 35 percent as wage bills," he said. The President said government had fast-tracked the provision of 850 megawatts of power within 18 months, and placed austerity tariffs on electricity to ensure sustainability and reduction on government expenditure. He observed that, over the years, government had worked around the clock to reduce the wage bill that was astronomically raised by the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure. He said government had reduced it from over 70 percent in 2010 to between 49 and 51 percent by 2015 and expressed the hope that it would further reduce to 40 percent by the close of 2017. On subsidies on petroleum products, President Mahama said since government embarked on the deregulation exercise, prices had remained relatively stable and relieved government of wanton debts it had accrued over the years on account of the subsidies. He said government would also work hard to reduce the high rate of power losses in the system to sustain the performance of the Electricity Company of Ghana in the provision of power. The current 25 percent loss the ECG was experiencing through illegal connections and non-payment of bills, he said, was unacceptable and government would, therefore, liaise with viable partners for the ECG to reverse the trend. Even with the losses and inadequacies, President Mahama explained that over 80 percent of Ghanaians were enjoying sustainable electricity and Ghana placed second to only South Africa in that respect, and gave the assurance that with the current expansion programmes, Ghana could attain 100 percent in the next four years. President Mahama said provision of potable water to Ghanaians had risen from 58 percent in 2008 to 72 percent this year and hoped that the completion of the second phase of the Kpong Water Project would further increase water supply to more people. On interest rates and other measures for the flourishing of businesses, President Mahama said government had introduced Public Debt Management Strategy that would ensure its borrowings did not crowd out the private sector businesses. This, he said, would be done through improved lending to the Small and Medium Enterprises, using the Ghana Export and Import Bank to support businesses and create import substitution, which had begun with the Pharmaceutical and Poultry companies. The President said although government did not control interest rates from financial institutions, it would ensure stability of prices to compel them to periodically reduce their interest rates. On the forthcoming December polls, President Mahama said he would play his role diligently as the President of the land to ensure a smooth and peaceful general election. Government has come under intense criticisms for supervising the declining growth of the sector. Economists have maintained that reviving the dwindling fortunes and ensuring modernisation of agriculture are the surest ways of turning Ghana’s ailing economy around in the short to medium-term. According to them, unless government turns its full attention to agriculture through direct and potent policies, required infrastructure, finance and capacity, no sector can lead the change that government seeks in the short to medium-term. The contribution of agriculture to the country’s GDP has suffered decline since 2009 from 31.8% to about 12.8% as at September 2015. In between these years, the sector has always recorded a fall in its share to GDP and the services sector overtook agriculture in 2010 as the leading contributor to GDP. Mr Carl Nelson, the Chief Operations Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, said his outfit had successfully organised similar meetings and would continue to do that in the coming days to deepen relations between government and businesses, on one side, and between businesses on the other. To learn more about WTC Accra, please click on the source link below. Read More

WTC Accra Promotes Trade and Investment In China

October 3, 2016 - ACCRA, GHANA - As part of its efforts to promote trade and investment between Ghana and China, the World Trade Centre (WTC) Accra in collaboration with CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade) organized a match-making forum in Beijing, China for Ghanaian and Chinese companies. The forum was attended by Togbe Afede XIV, Executive Chairman of World Trade Centre Accra, Dr Lu PengQi, Vice President of China CCPIT, Mr. Alfred Saame, Head of Chancery of the Embassy of Ghana in Beijing, Mr Zhou Jian, Director of SME Bureau of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Zhang Gang, Vice President of Beijing City Council, Ghanaian business delegation and their Chinese counterparts. Members of the Ghanaian business delegation who are participating in the 4 –city China business tour (Beijing, Shanghai, Shizen and Guangzhou) include: SAS Finance Group, BEA-NEWT Company Limited, City Toll/City Auction Mart, Crisel Consult Limited, Deliman Group Limited, D’yorc Motors, GCB Bank Limited, Helisel Aviation Limited, Menjes Homes Limited, Mimshach Energy Limited & Mimshach Offshore Limited, National Investment Bank, Nkunim Company Limited, Rare Hydraulics Limited and St. Louis Petroleum. About 150 Chinese related industries and enterprises as well as representatives of relevant enterprises and members of the media participated in the forum Stressing on the importance of building a stronger bilateral relationship between the private sectors of Ghana and China, the leader of the business delegation from Ghana, Togbe Afede XIV indicated that though Chinese investors invest in strategic areas in Ghana such as electricity generation, construction, the best of China is yet to be seen in Ghana. He said Ghana offers lucrative investment opportunities in the areas of finance, agriculture, infrastructure, real estate, transportation, water services hence the choice of companies for the business mission. “Trade between Ghana and China is growing rapidly. Available data indicates that total bilateral trade has increased from $2billion in 2010 to over $6.6billion in 2015, an increase of 221%”, the Executive Chairman of WTC Accra noted. Vice President of CCPIT Dr Lu PengQi lauded the initiative of the World Trade Centre Accra to further accelerate trade and investment between the two countries, as Ghana is one of the main trading partners of China. According to the Ministry of Commerce website, related data show that in 2015 the bilateral trade volume exceeded 6.6 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 18.2% over the previous year, ranking sixth in Africa. In the case of investment, according to Chinese statistics, 2015 China foreign direct investment to Ghana amounted to $174 million, ranking sixth in all African countries. As of the end of 2015, China's direct non-financial investment amounted to nearly $1.3 billion. China has become the largest source of foreign direct investment to Ghana, the largest source of imports and key trading partner. China-Africa CooperationDuring the Johannesburg summit in December 2015, China’s President Xi JinPing proposed a new type of China Africa partnership to enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership, and announced the implementation of a "ten point cooperation plan" and the "China Belt and Road Initiative" in collaboration with African countries seeking to accelerate their industrialization and agricultural modernization. Vice president of CCPIT Lu PengQi pointed out in his speech that the presence of the business delegation from Ghana will contribute to the implementation of the "ten point cooperation plan" and "national Belt and Road Initiative" development strategy and also strengthen pragmatic cooperation in non-economic and trade fields. The Head of Chancery of the Embassy of Ghana in Beijing Mr. Alfred Saame on his part underscored the need for more Ghanaian businesses to leverage the excellent cooperation between the two countries. The Head of Chancery stated that the forum is very important and timely, and will assist the implementation of specific initiatives proposed in the China-Africa Johannesburg summit in 2015. He proposed that the two organizations use the forum to fully communicate and carry out more pragmatic cooperation, and jointly promote economic and trade relations for more far-reaching development. MOU signedDuring the forum, WTC Accra signed a memorandum of cooperation with the China CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade), with the aim to further strengthen exchanges and pragmatic cooperation, and the continuation of Sino African friendship.Togbe Afede XIV was of the view that the memorandum of cooperation signed will largely define the re To learn more about WTC Accra, click on the source link below. Read More