Ayorkor Botchwey touts friendly business environment
By Isaac AIDOO, Accra
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has touted government’s efforts in making the business operating environment in Ghana friendlier than previously.
Madam Botchwey told investors that government was not oblivious of the importance of maintaining strong bilateral and economic relations with the country’s partners to attract the much needed foreign direct investment critical for the building of a robust Ghanaian economy.
Government, she indicated had put in place various measures to reduce the cost of doing business in the country and generally support businesses operate peacefully and successfully.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey, who is seeking to become the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, said these at an Economic Counsellors’ Dialogue in Accra.
It was jointly held by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, on the theme: “Navigating the changing landscape of international investment agreements”.
She noted that government, through digital innovations had eased the burden of doing business and investing in the country by streamlining processes to provide faster and convenient services to people.
They included e-business registration, implementation of a paperless port, digital addressing systems, and Mobile Money interoperability, and national identification systems.
“These initiatives by far, have assisted to lower the cost of doing business and have made it easier for firms to communicate with their customers, especially in a technology-driven era, where connecting through digital services is a critical component of attaining competitiveness and sustainability,” she said.
The Minister noted that State institutions like GIPC, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, and Ghana Enterprise Agency, Ghana Free Zones Board, had all been better placed to readily assist, secure, and sustain investments in the country.
Mad Ayorkor Botchwey stated that her Ministry was leveraging tools, such as the Bilateral Joint Permanent Commissions for Cooperation, Economic and Political dialogues and consultations with strategic investors to renegotiate many bilateral agreements and treaties to make it fit into today’s business environment.
She encouraged investors to continue to put their money into Ghana’s agriculture and agrobusiness, manufacturing and industry, ICT and automobile sectors, were mutually beneficial opportunities abound.
Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC , Mr Yofi Grant noted that to enhance support for investors and attract high-quality, sustainable investments to Ghana, the Centre had become more proactive to investor sentiments.
He stated that through a World Bank assistance under the Ghana Economic Transformation Project (GETP), the country had developed a Corporate Investment Promotion Strategy and Business Plan.
