‘Ghana, India’s key partner in trade, investment, dev’
Indian High Commissioner Designate to Ghana, Mr Manish Gupta has described Ghana as India’s key long-standing partner in development, trade and investments.
According to Mr Gupta, “India is amongst the top five trading partners with Ghana and our relationship is based on mutual trust and respect.”
The High Commissioner Designate made the remarks during the 75th Anniversary celebration of Indian’s Independence and democracy in Accra attended by government officials, members of the diplomatic community in Ghana, heads of public and private institutions and traditional leaders.
The High Commissioner Designate noted that he had been informed about some more than 900 projects worth over$2 billion which had been completed by India in the last two decades.
“I see a lot of opportunities in the agriculture, mining, medicine and health and IT. The two countries can work together,” Mr Gupta said.
He urged Ghana to continue with its digitalization drive since it had become a propeller of development, adding that, “we have 1.4 billion people in India and everybody has a digital identity. We are leveraging on that to get our health benefits, social welfare subsidies and we are using it to roll out several programmes.”
He said India had been working tirelessly to become the third largest economy by 2030, and both countries could invest more in agriculture, mining, medicine and other health related sectors and information technology (IT).
“Since the start of our democracy, the people of India have been working towards socio-economic development. Indian’s development model resonates with the global south, and they continued to build capacity to work with developing countries,” Mr Gupta stated.
Deputy Minister of Energy, Mr Herbert Krapa, who was at the event on behalf of the government of Ghana, said, Ghana and India shared a deep commitment to democracy, human rights, and respect for the rule of law.
According to Mr Krapa “such tenets of democratic governance have ensured peace, stability and economic development over the years.”
Indian investments had undoubtedly contributed to the revitalization of Ghana’s economy, leading to the creation of jobs and business opportunities for the youth in Ghana.
The Deputy Minister wooed more Indian investors to take advantage of the continental market to further strengthen the trade ties in areas such as Agriculture and Agri-related technologies, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), power and energy.
Mr Krapa lauded India for extending a total of 13 Lines of Credit (LOCs) through its development partnership, in rural electrification, connectivity, agro-processing machinery, irrigation equipment, railways, construction, water and construction and capacity building supports to public servants under the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
