Ghana, Guyana to strengthen ties for economic growth
Ghana and Guyana have pledged to strengthen trade and bilateral ties between the two countries to accelerate economic growth.
The President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and Ghana’s Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, made the pledge at a joint consultative meeting between the two countries in Georgetown, Guyana, last Monday.
Advertisement
Present were government officials, captains of industry and private sector players from both countries.
The meeting formed part of Dr Bawumia’s three-day official visit to Guyana.
The Vice-President said both Ghana and Guyana could leverage the recent surge in economic growth in their respective economies, adding: “It is our expectation that the private sector, through an innovative approach, will partner the government to create sustainable growth by focusing on the pillars of development for economic prosperity”.
He said the government of Ghana welcomed the increasing collaboration between private sector operators of the two countries to identify potential areas of investment to address the persistent trade imbalance in their ties.
Strategies
Dr Bawumia mentioned some of the strategies the two governments could deploy to boost cooperation as the exchange of trade missions, workshops, seminars and linkages with the business community and other financial services, which he said would create the necessary incentives to attract private equity.
“It is imperative that at this momentous occasion we broaden our economic relations by increasing the scope of our engagement, given the commonalities and synergies in our economics.
“Areas of possible collaboration include oil and gas, the petrochemical sector, agro-processing and agriculture, education, mining and tourism,” he added.
Incentives
That, he explained, would create the necessary incentives to attract private equity in education, infrastructure and energy for socio-economic development.
“The private sector should also promote entrepreneurial activities and interactions between universities and companies through innovation in research, as well as other market instruments such as credit and economic subventions, direct investment in health and fintech developing technology solutions,” Dr Bawumia said.
He said to realise the commercial objective of promoting trade and investment between the two countries, it was crucial that the private sector supported the air services agreement between Ghana and Guyana, designed to improve air connectivity between countries in Africa and South America.
Challenges
For his part, the President of Guyana assured the private sector of Ghana of a speedy resolution of challenges they might face in their dealings with their Guyanese counterparts, adding that the strategic partnership between the two countries was being facilitated by their respective governments.
According to President Ali, the consultative meeting was the beginning of processes to integrate the people, including the private sector of both countries, while finding a common ground to examine opportunities and common strategies for their mutual benefit.