Ghana invites Pakistani businesses to invest in manufacturing

KARACHI: The High Commissioner of Ghana to Pakistan, Eric Owusu Boateng, on Wednesday invited the business and industrial community of Karachi to set up manufacturing units in Ghana, saying the country offers a "safe, secure, and stable environment" to foreign investors.

“The prospects for foreign investors are really good and the return on investment will also be interesting for you [Karachi business community] in Ghana, which is known as Oasis of Peace in West Africa,” the envoy said speaking at a meeting during a visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

“The advantages that you could enjoy in Ghana are overwhelming”, he said, stressing a need to jointly identify mutually beneficial areas so that trade, investment, and economic relations between the two countries could be further deepened.

He was of the view that exchange trade delegations, participation in trade fairs, and jointly conduct programme should happen in both Pakistan and Ghana.

Highlighting the key sectors wherein the Ghana government was interested in seeking foreign investments, he said Pakistani investors from pharmaceuticals, textiles, garments, tourism and others sectors in Ghana where the literacy rate was around 80 percent, he claimed. “A highly literate labour force is readily available, which can easily be trained further as per requirements and the minimum wage in Ghana is also the most competitive in the region.”

The population of Ghana is around 35 million, and the country is also a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), according to the high commissioner. “Ghana is a gateway to ECOWAS market, which is a huge market with a population 316 million and GDP [gross domestic product] of around $615 billion.”

He lamented that there are no direct flights between Pakistan and Ghana.

“Even if anyone takes connecting flight, it would hardly require seven hours to land at Ghana airport, which has become the leading airport in West Africa because of government’s objective to actively promote Ghana as an aviation hub of West Africa, the envoy said. “In addition to this, we also have two major sea ports in Ghana.”

KCCI president Mohammed Tariq Yousuf stated that in spite of immense trade potential between Pakistan and Ghana, the volume of trade was too low as Pakistan’s exports to Ghana stood at just around $53 million, while the imports from Ghana were $2 million only during July-May 2022-23.

“Pakistan’s exports to the African market stood at $1.21 billion in July-May 2022-23, which is stagnant at just 4.7 percent of our total exports so far,” Yousuf said.

The envoy mentioned that for past 30 years Ghana has enjoyed a “peaceful democratic political climate” whereby elections are held after every four years.

“It doesn’t matter which political party wins, the transfer of power is done peacefully as there is stability along with rule of law and strict adherence to the same, which gives the assurance to private sector to invest in Ghana.”

Ghana and Pakistan have been enjoying wonderful political relations for a long time, but in the ongoing era of economic diplomacy, it’s becoming important to try and identify ways and means of translating the warm political relations into strong economic relations so that the people of both countries could benefit, according to Boateng.

He stressed that focus should not remain confined to government-to-government level, but also at government-to-business and business-to-business levels.

“The private sector is a very important stakeholder in all efforts to achieve the common goal,” he said, adding that that would only be possible when the private sectors’ of both countries carry out intense activities for deepening relations.