Singapore consolidates trade ties with Ghana

(LEFT) Mrs Mawuena Treba, CEO, GIPC; and Mr Teo Eng Cheong, CEO, IE Singapore; and Nana Afari, President, AGI; and Mr Shabbir H. Investors from Singapore have strengthened bilateral trade ties with their Ghanaian counterparts following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the opening of its Overseas Centre in Accra.

The Singapore investors are in the country by courtesy of their external trade facilitating agency, the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, and were led by the Singapore Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development, Mr Lee Yi Shyan.

The IE Singapore’s Accra Overseas Centre aims to boost economic collaboration by accelerating trade and investment cooperation in the ECOWAS sub-region focusing on the logistics and oil and gas consumer sectors.

Addressing the press the Chief Executive Officer of IE Singapore, Mr Teo Eng Cheong, said the centre would also identify and facilitate business partnerships that are aligned with Ghana and the region’s development needs.

Also, the Singaporean investors are focusing on infrastructure, oil and gas and the manufacturing sector to help drive the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
Subsequently, the group has also signed a couple of MoUs with their Ghanaian counterparts after the official opening of its Accra office.  

To create a platform for Singaporean companies looking to venture into the market, IE Singapore signed an MoU with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) to jointly identify business opportunities and match Singapore companies with relevant partners in Ghana.

At the industry level, the Singapore Business Federation signed an MoU with the Association of Ghana Industries to collaborate on joint missions and facilitate the exchange of information.

For the private sector, Singaporean companies entered partnerships in the consumer services and urban infrastructure sectors.

Singaporean company Kheng Keng Auto signed a joint venture agreement with Car Joint Company to build one-stop automobile solutions centres in Ghana.

Also, RSP Architects Planners and Engineers and ABP Consult, consultancies from Singapore and Ghana, respectively, signed an agreement to jointly work together for the sourcing and servicing of real estate development projects in Ghana.

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu explained that government has revised its trade legislation to provide needed incentives to spur economic growth.

He said the move would improve the performance of the manufacturers by forging partnership between the public and private sector to drive development of the national economy.

By Jessica Acheampong/Graphic Business/Ghana