Roundup: Peace, stability in Ghana alluring to Chinese investment

More and more Chinese companies are willing to invest in Ghana due to peace and stability environment in Ghana, Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohong has said.

"Chinese enterprises are generally interested in investing in Ghana because Ghana is a very peaceful country and it has a lot of advantages which attract Chinese investments. I think stability is one of the biggest dividends," she told the media during the recent China-Ghana Economic forum held here.

One major facet of the attractive investment climate in Ghana the ambassador said was the well educated labor force.

"In Ghana we have more than four to five hundred Chinese companies. More are coming. I know many Chinese companies are interested in Energy, manufacturing, agro-processing and real estate development," she said, adding that the Chinese government will continue to encourage more Chinese manufacturing firms to set up in Ghana.

China has become one of the major trading partners of Ghana with 2016 alone recording more than 6 billion dollars worth of trade volumes between the two countries.

Sun said the Chinese government will intensify dialogue with the Ghanaian government to provide more incentives in trade and investment for Chinese companies, as well as to identify some major projects that have long term influence on Ghana's development and the living conditions of the people.

The ambassador however urged the Ghanaian government to take steps to find solutions to some of the lingering difficulties in the investment environment.

"Land issue is always a headache for outside investors, because the land system is complicated. And also we wish the government can make some effort to streamline the procedure of approving investment to have some one stop office that can provide facilities to investors," Sun urged.

Tang Fuzang, General Manager for EraTruck Ghana Ltd, said the vibrant construction sector has been beneficial to EraTruck.

"I think in Ghana Heavy Duty Trucks is good. It is a good country, they have ports, they have mining. They have their agriculture and everything so many people come here to do business," Tang told Xinhua on the sides of the forum.

Shandong Wuzheng Group, manufacturers of trucks, tractors, tricycles and other agricultural machinery has been in Ghana for the past seven years, and seeks to put up a new plant at the Northern city of Tamale, 753 km north of the capital.

"Now we are planning to make assembling plant in Tamale. We want to reduce our cost of the machine and make sure every farmer can use the machine and enjoy the benefits brought by the machine," Xu Yanbing, Sales Manager of the company, told Xinhua.

Abdallah Abubakar, Northern Regional Minister acknowledged the role of the government of China and Chinese firms in Ghana's development history and introduced them to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) zone.

The minister was hopeful that the Chinese firms would find it opportune to invest in the SADA zone. "Government and people in the SADA zone are looking forward to an enhanced cooperation and collaboration in various areas. We must make a conscious effort to build upon the outcomes of the forum so that these efforts do not go in vain," Abubakar said.

"We should also seek to widen the frontiers of our collaboration and cooperation for mutual benefits to the peoples of our two countries," the minister added. Endit