WTC Accra Hosts Ghana-UK Business Forum in London
The World Trade Centre Accra, has embarked on a week-long trade mission to the United Kingdom (UK), to boost trade and investment between the two Commonwealth nations.
The UK trade mission which was led by Jane Reindorf-Attoh, Managing Director of WTC Accra and Togbe Afede XIV, the Executive Chairman, WTC Accra and Board Member of World Trade Centres Association (WTCA) also held a business forum. The delegation comprised of 17 Ghanaian business executives from various sectors seeking investment and partnership opportunities in the UK.
The business forum, which was held on July 23 in Central London, generated high level dialogue among government and business executives on key topics such as export and project financing, local content requirements, the movement of goods and people, and opportunities to build the capacity and scalability of the Ghanaian private sector.
The forum was attended by over sixty executives from the Ghanaian and UK public and private sectors with informative presentations, an engaging panel discussion, and business-to-business meetings.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, delivered the key note address to kick start the forum.
It was also attended by UK’s Department of International Trade, UK Export Finance, UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Tullow Oil, Ghana’s National Investment Bank (NIB), SAS Finance Group, Renaissance Holdings, and Misyl Energy (amongst others) and concluded with a networking social.
Several companies which attended held additional meetings during the week to build upon initial discussions held during the forum.
The delegation visited the House of Commons and met Andrew Rosindell, Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford Constituency; Laurence Robertson, MP of Twekesbury; and Adam Afriye, MP for Windsor, to seek their assistance to help drive policies that would create an enabling environment to increase trade between Ghana and the UK.
Specific issues discussed, included; but were not limited to, the length of time and challenges of obtaining a UK Visa and the need to increase the UK’s participation in Ghana’s finance and banking sector.
The delegation concluded the trip by visiting the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to gain an overview of the company’s Africa strategy and held discussions on how LSE can increase its engagement with Ghana’s Stock Exchange.
Source: GNA