Business News of Thursday, 2 February 2012

Source: GNA

Duffuor urges foreign financiers to invest in Ghana

Accra, Feb. 2, GNA - Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Thursday called on foreign financiers to invest in the country’s modernized and diversified economic sector.

Speaking ahead of the maiden two-day Euromoney and Ghana Finance and Investment conference slated for February 7 to 8, 2012, he described Ghana’s oil, gas, minerals and cocoa sectors as attractive for foreign investment.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of MOFEP and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

“This is the opportune time for investors to come to Ghana. Our economy is doing well, it’s being touted as one of the fastest growing economies and it is strong and resilient,” the statement quoted Dr Duffuor as saying.

It added that Ghana was a stable country where the rule of law, transparency and good governance were “held sacred.”

The statement quoted Dr Duffuor as saying that the government was focused on developing the oil and gas industry and to bridge the huge gap that existed in roads, rails, energy, information communication technology (ICT) and health facilities.

Mr Christopher Garnett, Director of Euromoney Conference, expressed the conviction that the upcoming conference demonstrated that Ghana had taken seriously, the need to revitalize her finance and investment environment

The two-day conference is expected to serve as the platform for policy and strategy debate, to highlight Ghana’s attractions as a destination for foreign direct investment.

The more than 250 participants would cover investment areas, including banking, capital markets, oil and gas, small, medium scale enterprises, infrastructure and Public Private Partnerships, mining, soft commodities and agribusiness, the statement said.