Govt Business Team Tours U.S. West Coast

The Ghana Embassy in conjunction with the US Chamber of Commerce and the Whitaker Group is facilitating a major Investment Promotion Tour of the West Coast of the US, from April 16 to 21, 2007. The Ghana team, which will be actively involved in the four-day Tour, includes the following high government officials:

• Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu :- Minister for Finance & Economic Planning;
• Hon. Alan Kyerematen :- Minister for Trade & Private Sector Initiative; and
• H.E. Dr. Kwame Bawuah- Edusei – Ghana's Ambassador to the U.S.

The purpose of the Tour is to explore new business opportunities and promote partnerships between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in some African countries including Ghana and U.S. companies.

The Tour is also intended to serve as a prelude to the upcoming AGOA Forum that is scheduled to take place in Accra, from July 16-19, 2007. The objective of the Investment Promotion Tour falls directly in line with government's agenda of not only establishing the necessary bilateral economic liaisons, but also creating a favourable environment to facilitate increased inflows of foreign direct investment as well as viable partnerships for the growth of Ghanaian SMEs, which constitute a crucial part of private sector.

The four-day ministerial tour will afford a rare business promotion opportunity to a select group of African Ministers and government officials. The delegation will pay site visits to major US businesses in different sectors including Apparel, Information & Communication Technology, Financial Services and Infrastructure. The delegation will also have the opportunity to hold business networking sessions.

The first port of call by the delegation will be Seattle, in Washington State and then onwards to San Francisco and San Jose, in the State of California.

In Seattle, highlights of activities they will undertake include:

Site visits and meeting with officials of Boeing Company; Starbucks Company; & Bill Gates Foundation; and

A lunch and Business Networking organized by the Trade and Development Alliance of Seattle.

In the cities of San Francisco and San Jose, activities scheduled to take place also include:

Site visits and meetings with Officials of Levi Company, producers of the popular Jeans; Nexant Incorporated; Barclays; and GAP, Inc. a major US Apparel Company; Doha Round/AGOA panel discussions; and Other networking events.