South Africans scout for areas of investment in Accra

Accra - A South African Trade Delegation arrived in Accra last week Wednesday to explore possible areas of investment in Ghana and seek avenues for co-operation between the two countries.

The team met with a select group of business, industrial and corporate concerns and professionals at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) to brainstorm and find answers to a number of issues plaguing Ghana-South Africa relations. The meeting was also to help the South Africans identify readily available areas of investment and find solutions to problems plaguing trade and investment relations between the two countries.

The delegation, which is led by Ms. Gloria Ncwana, head of the Department of Trade and Industry, Africa Desk, includes top level representatives of the Mining, Water, Chemical, and Agro Processing industry. Their visit is a follow-up to trade discussions between the two countries in 1998.

Possible areas of investment, where relations between the two countries should head to, and volume of trade and trade deficits between the two countries, which currently favours South Africa, were some issues that were put on the discussion table by the South African High Commissioner, Dr. M. M. Phologane, in his welcome address.

The High Commissioner stressed the urgent need to smoothen the rough edges of the business and trade agenda of the two countries in order to enable investment and business activities between the two countries to be co-ordinated on an even keel.

The need for a formal framework to guide relations between the two countries, speedy access to investment information, establishment of a Ghana-South African Chamber of Commerce, were readily identified as areas that needed prompt tackling.

A proposal for a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, which has been pending before the Ministry of Trade and Industry after it was presented to it by the South African High Commission in Accra almost two years ago, also came up at the meeting with the South Africans pushing for its ratification to co-ordinate trade and investment between the two nations.

The High Commissioner suggested a re-look at tourism and increase in volumes of Accra's exports to Pretoria as possible areas for Ghana to strengthen its receipts from South Africa.

"We are convinced that once we give positive responses to these questions, we may be in a position to locate Ghana-South Africa relations, and place them where they are supposed to be. If we are indeed two titans, surely, that should reflect in how we related"

Dr. Phologane said the South African High Commission is trying, but to no avail, to level the playing fields in an effort towards achieving balanced trade relations between the two countries. "Something is wrong and it must be corrected soon. Pretending that all is well will certainly not be helpful to any of us."

He expressed his country's joy in playing a positive role in the development of Ghana, noting that it is the intention of Pretoria to see strong symbiotic relations between the two nations.

It is in this light, he noted, that President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa has been spearheading the crusade for Africa's rebirth and economic re-engineering.

He said the dream of a prosperous, democratic, peaceful and glorious African continent envisaged by its past leaders such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, can only be realised by a pragmatic approach to inter-trade activities of the continent.

Dr. Kwesi Nduom, an economic consultant, who chaired the function suggested the defunct sugar manufacturing projects as areas the South Africans can take a look at.