Queen Margaret
The Queen of Denmark is expected to arrive in Accra on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2017 for a three-day state visit to Ghana.
Queen Margaret would be accompanied by a 39-member business delegation, which is bent on forming long-term partnerships with Ghanaian businesses in the food and agriculture, sustainability, maritime, infrastructure and railways sectors.
Tove Degnbol, Ambassador of Denmark to Ghana, who disclosed this to some journalists at the Danish Embassy, said with the exit of DANIDA from Ghana, new opportunities for a strong private sector partnership between both countries were open.
“DANIDA has supported numerous individual partnerships between private Danish and Ghanaian companies – some failed, others prospered and developed. From 2003, DANIDA’s support to Ghana’s private sector gradually evolved from individual projects to broader programme support.”
“While it may not be possible to point to one major, concrete and visible result of DANIDA’s support to the private sector, I would say that we have contributed to strengthening the capacity of the private sector to do business advocacy to request law reforms, etc., from government. In fact, this approach has turned out to be a more efficient way to an enabling business environment than working directly through the government.”
She also noted that Denmark has also been in the forefront of supporting skills development and rural finance.
“The private sector is now developing very fast in Ghana with a lot of new companies coming up. Some of them are struggling, but we do see companies being able to earn money. And there is a huge potential for Danish companies in Ghana. There is a growing middle class. They are demanding a lot of the products that we are able to produce.”
Mr Tove said Denmark wants to improve its sour past with Ghana, particularly during the colonial era, by charting a new course with private businesses.
By Samuel Boadi