French trade mission to explore local businesses

French investors from the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Municipal Council of Bordeaux will be in the country from February 8-13 to explore business opportunities as well as build concrete partnerships with local entrepreneurs.

The visit is a spin-off from a series of successful meetings held between a group of Ghanaian corporate, municipal and academic delegates and their Paris counterparts during President John Dramani Mahama’s trip to France in October, 2015.

Those initial encounters resulted in partnerships between French and Ghanaian participants which called for a return visit to Ghana to enable partners to explore business opportunities and facilitate concrete outcomes and agreements.

The delegation which will comprise representatives from the private as well as municipal and academic sectors will look to leverage their presence in the country to identify potential areas of investment across several economic sectors including agri-business, hospitality and tourism, education, healthcare, pharmaceuticals as well as energy, ICT, waste management and infrastructure.

The visit will position the country as an attractive destination for trade and investment due to its stable democracy, respect for the rule of law and enabling business environment demonstrated by its well established governance institutions and enviable infrastructure.

Also, the delegation will get to follow up on partnerships formed among delegates and institutions in order to facilitate concrete outcomes and agreements on the private sector, academic and municipal levels.

A statement issued by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and copied to the B&FT indicated that the visit will provide a unique opportunity to expand the relationship between Ghana and France especially at the small and medium-sized business level, at the municipal and decentralised level and between academic institutions.

According to the statement, French companies have already invested in several countries of the West African sub-region and Ghana is no exception. As a matter of fact, being the fourth destination in sub-Saharan Africa for French investors, the presence of French companies in Ghana is ever-increasing.

And that the recent establishment of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ghana which currently has an increasing number of affiliated French and Ghanaian companies will assuredly stimulate more business relations. As the leading West African country, investments in Ghana will further enhance regional development.

The visit will comprise a trip to Tamale which is the fastest growing city in Africa due to its unique geographical location and existing infrastructure that positions it as a potential hub and transit point for the ECOWAS region and a natural meeting point between East and West, North and South and Francophone and Anglophone West Africa.

A number of French companies are already invested in Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso and therefore, Tamale would provide similar investment opportunities and access to new markets.

“In today’s global economy, SMEs have the great potential to spur up economic growth and development at the regional level. As the backbone of an economy, the SME sector makes a large contribution to innovation, job creation, support regional development and social cohesion.

“Operating on a wide range of sectors, the input of SMEs to the economy is crucial and as a middle-income country, Ghana can only benefit from the upsurge of SMEs such as those coming from Bordeaux. These companies span from a large range of sectors from tourism to pharmaceuticals, to agri-business and industrial and engineering equipment.

“The visit will thus be the doorway to showcase the various investment sectors in Ghana and concretely connect the French companies to the relevant Ghanaian counterparts in view of enhancing long-lasting investment projects and partnerships,” the statement read.

There will be an interaction forum for the delegation and local partners to network and strengthen business leads in the presence of government agencies and institutions who will ensure the continuity of exchanges and implementation of business decision taken at the session.

Other high-notes of the visit will be the focus on the country’s cocoa industry as the Bordeaux delegation will seek investments in infrastructural projects that will enhance the development of cocoa tourism.

On the educational front, there will be room for strong collaboration between French universities and the three leading universities in the country—University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and the University for Development Studies—to facilitate the internationalisation of higher education in a mutually beneficial association and develop academic and cultural in education, research and related areas.