President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo says Ghana is “ready for business”, urging the United Kingdom business community to partner with Ghana and be part of the new, exciting and profitable phase of the West African nation’s quest to transform her economy into an industrialized one.

Speaking at the turn of the 2018 UK- Ghana Investment Summit at the Kempinski Hotel with focus on building an investment case for Ghana, President Akufo Addo said, “The prospects for Ghana’s and indeed, Africa’s development in the 21st century are immense. British participation in that development would be very welcome.”

Ghana, the President said, is the first sub-Saharan African nation to break free from colonial rule. The country, he said, is therefore poised to play a vanguard role in the new struggle for economic development for Africa’s 1.2 billion people.

“Ghana is ready for business. Join us. Be part of this new, exciting and profitable phase,” the President said.

Business Climate

On the state of the business climate in Ghana, the President said, “It is an exciting time to be in Ghana and to do business in the country. Already, global car manufacturing giants, Volkswagen of Germany and Sinotruk of China; energy giants, ExxonMobil of the United States of America and Noway’s Aker Energy, as well as tech giant, Google, have signaled their intentions of establishing bases in Ghana, and I believe it is for good reason.”

President Akufo Addo therefore urged the UK business delegation visiting Ghana to take advantage of the growing business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana.

“You must now be familiar with government’s flagship policies of ‘One District, One Factory’, ‘One Village, One Dam’, and the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which I commend to you, as I do areas in water, health, housing, road and rail infrastructure, transport, industry, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and gas, the exploitation of our mineral wealth of bauxite, iron ore and gold, renewable energy and ICT growth,” the President stated.

British High Commissioner to Ghana

British High Commissioner to Ghana, Iain Walker, in his opening address said, “Ghana is currently the United Kingdom’s fourth biggest export market in sub Saharan Africa, but is potential for both Ghana and the UK to do much more together”.

He expressed confidence in the fact that the best of the UK private sector is ready and waiting to accelerate President Akufo Addo’s agenda of moving ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’.