The Government of Ghana has welcomed the desire of Marubeni Corporation, a Japanese business conglomerate to operate as an independent power supplier.

This would help shore up electricity supply across the country.

Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur on Thursday gave the assurance that the Government would expand the framework for “that kind of business” and encourage more companies.

“We will encourage some more companies to improve the quality of power supply,” the Vice President said, at the Flagstaff House in Accra, when a business and investment delegation, from the Corporation, led by Mr. Naoto Nikai, the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana paid a courtesy call on him.

The delegation, on a three-day working visit to Ghana, had since held discussions with the Ministries of Finance and Trade and Industry, and would soon hold discussion with the Ministry of Energy as well as business networking session with Ghanaian businessmen.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur urged the Corporation to move beyond the supply of equipment to the Volta River Authority (VRA), the main generator of electricity in Ghana, for a more direct participation in power generation.

He also invited the Corporation to invest in Ghana’s vast agricultural opportunities, adding that, they could take advantage of the fertility of the soil in Northern Ghana and establish sugarcane plantations and sugar processing plants there, an opportunity that has so far been limited to the Southern sector.

Mr Shigero Yamazoe, Marubeni Board Member for Sub Saharan African, said the Maruabeni was one of the largest investment firms in Japan and expressed the Corporation’s strong interest for investment in Ghana

Marubeni is involved in the handling of products and provision of services in a broad range of sectors.

These areas encompass importing and exporting, as well as transactions in the Japanese market, related to food materials, food products, textiles, materials, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy, metals and mineral resources, transportation, machinery and offshore trading.

The Company's activities also extend to power projects and infrastructure, plants and industrial machinery, finance, logistics and information industry, and real estate development and construction.

Additionally, Marubeni conducts business investment, development and management on a global level.