Accra, Aug. 24 GNA- Ghana Expo 2004 would represent the biggest single business opportunity for Ghanaian business entrepreneurs, Mr Ryan Washburn, West Africa Regional Economic Integration Team Leader, USAID, said on Tuesday.

He said Ghanaian businesses create high quality exquisite products, which were reliably superior but had small market prospective. Mr Washburn was speaking at the first orientation seminar in Accra for participants, who are to attend the Ghana Expo 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States from September 23 to September 26 this year.

He said: "Ghanaian businesses have the potential of doing business with the American companies and capable of making huge turnovers".

The Expo 2004 is meant to showcase Ghana's trade and investment potential on the American market and make it attractive to investors. He said with Ghana's average per capita income of 330 dollars per year compared to the equivalent of 26,000 dollars for a resident in Atlanta, Ghana stood to gain immensely from the event.

Mr Washburn said Atlanta with over 10 billion dollars total income has a purchasing power 45 per cent greater than Ghana, which has a total income of 6.9 billion dollars.

Mr Kwadwo Affram Assiedu, Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives, said Government would support local businesses to satisfy the emerging trade requirements to ensure that they remained competitive in the global market.

"As the private sector braces itself to face the phenomenon of global competitiveness we as government, pursuant to our commitment to public-private partnership will continue to offer our continuous support and create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and expand beyond our borders" he said.

He urged Ghanaian businessmen to surmount the emerging challenges in the global market and improve upon the quality of their product to remain competitive.

Mr Asiedu advised entrepreneurs not to only promote Ghana but also endeavour to carve good images for their businesses. 24 Aug. 04