The Government of South Korea has pledged to encourage its private investors and businesses to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to trade in Ghana.
Ghana recently won the bid to host the Secretariat of the AfCFTA.
Visiting South Korean Foreign Minister to Ghana, Kang Kyung-Wha speaking at a joint press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, explained that the presence of the Secretariat would boost trade in Ghana, bringing about economic developments.
The press conference was held today Saturday, July 13, 2019, after the two foreign Ministers had a meeting with Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, Deputy Ministers of Food and Agriculture, Communications, and Health.
Discussions during the meeting centered on deepening Ghana and South Korea bilateral relationship which started in 1977, with the Ghanaian officials highlighting possible areas for future development partnership between both nations.
The Government of South Korea during the discussions, pledged to support government’s Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda and the West African Nation’s 10-point Industrial Transformation Agenda.
Both nations pledged to further deepen their relationship, and to partner in addressing global issues, including terrorism threats, maritime situation in West Africa, hunger, the Korean crisis, and economic transformation and trade.
The South Korean Foreign Minister addressing the press at the Foreign Ministry in Accra, said the Korean Government would encourage its citizens to invest more in Ghana.
Madam Kyung-Wha noted with satisfaction that the partnership between Ghana and Korea has steady growth.
She said South Korea was willing to also support Ghana’s rural development agenda as well as agriculture.
On her part, Madam Ayorkor Botchwey seized the opportunity to thank the South Korean Government for the support it had rendered to Ghana over the years.
According to her, within the context of the two nations’ bilateral relationship, South Korea has been very supportive of Ghana’s socioeconomic development, especially in the area of human resource capacity-building and e-administration for ministries, departments and agencies.
The Korean EximBank, she said, has also provided funding for important projects such as the Wa Water Supply, Rehabilitation and Expansion Project and the Prestea-Kumasi Power Project.
Additionally, she recounted, the Dawhenya Integrated Rural Development Project, the Maternal Healthcare, Water and Sanitation projects in the Volta and Eastern regions, are projects funded under the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) grant aid.
Going forward, she said both nations have agreed to invite the business community in South Korea to actively invest in Ghana in particular, and Africa in general, on a win-win basis as a way of taking advantage of this newly created Africa-wide market.
She explained that private investment capital has a legitimate part to play in the overall economic development of Ghana the continent.
BY Melvin Tarlue