President Akufo-Addo delivering a speech at the launch of Cocoa Forest
REDD programme in Accra yesterday
The governments of Ghana
and the United Kingdom (UK) are keen on developing strategies to remove
barriers that affect trade relations between the two countries.
The decision was made at
the third UK-Ghana Business meeting held at the Presidency (Jubilee House) in
Accra yesterday at the instance of Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
UK Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State at the Department for International Development (DFID),
Baroness Elizabeth Sugg, stressed her country’s determination to remove all forms
of trade and investment barriers that exist between them and Ghana.
Speaking under the theme: “Delivering
Mutual Prosperity”, Baroness Sugg said both Ghana and the UK have a fine
opportunity to use the 3rd Council meeting to set the tone for improved trade
relations between their two respective countries.
She further indicated
“as Ghana moves beyond aid, the UK is shifting its focus away from large-scale
resource transfer towards technical assistance.”
On his part, Vice-President
Bawumia enumerated a number of initiatives government had and continued to roll
out all in an attempt to formalize the Ghanaian economy, particularly through
digitalization modules such as the introduction of the digital addressing
system, the issuance of national biometric identity cards and mobile money
interoperability.
These efforts, he said,
had set the stage for Ghana to engage the rest of the world for greater trade
and investment.
“With what we are doing,
we expect that within the next two to three years in Ghana, we will have a
completely different public sector as far as the digitization and automation of
services are concerned,” Vice-President Bawumia said when he addressed the gathering.
“We should have a more efficient public sector and a less corrupt public
sector.”
The UK-Ghana Business
Council (UKGBC) is a biannual high-level meeting between top UK and Ghana
government officials and ministers.
The meeting is used as a
vehicle to move forward a new strategic economic partnership between the UK and
Ghana that focuses on increased trade and investment and additionally
emphasizes the development of priority sectors of the Ghanaian economy that
leads to job creation and sustained economic growth.
Together, the UK and Ghana governments have agreed on six priority sectors — agri-processing, financial services, textiles/garments, pharma, digital and extractives — as the main areas of corporation between them.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent
