The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) Investment Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) in Tokyo, organized the Ghana-Japan Investment Seminar, on 13th July, 2021, to deepen linkages between the country and Japan’s business community.
The virtual event introduced Japanese private corporations and investors to the vast investment opportunities in Ghana, in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It also provided a platform for relevant stakeholders to identify investment facilitation modules, as spelt out in the SDG Investor Map, which was launched recently by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and GIPC.
Commenting on the SDG Map, the Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, Mr Yofi Grant said the country’s investment priorities continue to lie in “agriculture, agro-processing, infrastructure, industrialization, technology, hospitality, as the well as the soft economies of health and education”. Mr Grant further added that “Ghana is known to be one of the most politically stable places in West Africa, and therefore remains a safe haven for any investor”.
On her part, the UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana, Dr Angela Lusigi, noted that some sectors in Ghana require more investments to boost their recovery post-pandemic. She cited agro-processing and infrastructure as areas with huge potential that investors can explore.
Enhanced multi-stakeholder partnerships have been considered as crucial for Africa to realize the economic transformation necessary to achieve its Agenda 2063 and the SDGs. Similarly, the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) has emphasized that, promoting collaboration between Africa and Japan’s private sector would bring about increased opportunities in technology transfer, capacity building, diversified employment, and economic growth.
Currently, 44 out of approximately 800 Japanese businesses in Africa, have established bases in Ghana, with steady growing interest by the Japanese corporations in the country.
The Head of UNIDO ITPO Tokyo, Mr. Yuko Yasunaga, highlighted the office’s initiatives aimed at increasing foreign direct investment from Japan to the region, emphasizing the advisory program, which will facilitate business matching, and technology transfer. He said Ghana provided exciting prospects for partnership with the Japanese business community.
The panel discussion also steered talks on opportunities, incentives, and barriers in doing business in some key sectors. Discussants stressed on the need to capitalize on the pandemic to digitize the agriculture supply chain. They noted that fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships, and maintaining a conducive investment climate will help increase the productivity of the sector.
This virtual seminar gave an in-depth overview of Ghana’s investment climate, as part of a Delegate Programme facilitated by UNIDO and GIPC. It saw over 230 participants from both Ghana and Japan.