German Investors Are Interested in Ghana

It is an honour and a pleasure to welcome you on the occasion of the GGEA trade fair at the Novotel Accra.

For the second time the Ghanaian-German Economic Association has organised a display of profile and business activities of 18 GGEA members from the banking sector, trade and industry. They give a representative overview of Ghanaian-German business relations in general as well as of their economic impact on Ghana.

The GGEA also prepared a graduate fair as part of the programme to link entrepreneurs with interested graduates from Ghana's universities and colleges. As a special highlight at this year's trade fair the new Mercedes C-class will be launched on Friday, 5th October in the afternoon.

First of all let me thank the Ghanaian-German Economic Association for the renewed initiative undertaken to organise a trade fair for the interested Ghanaian and international public. Founded in 1999, the GGEA already belongs to the well-established and renowned institutions here in Ghana.

It offers services comparable to a chamber of commerce in doing market research, mediating first contacts for companies from both countries, providing information on rules, laws and procedures and recommending legal assistance. The association has launched three business guides so far on doing business in Ghana, in Germany and in the EU, providing valuable information and guidance for bilateral trade and investment.

GGEA's pursues a dual approach strategy

1. to strengthen Ghanaian-German Business relations by supporting commercial ties and attract the interest of a greater number of companies both from Ghana and from Germany to engage in Ghanaian-German Commerce and investment, and

2. to support the development of the private sector and industry in Ghana with a variety of activities.

This matches with the economic policy objectives of the Government of Ghana to promote private sector development and to boost economic growth. GGEA's activities also fit perfectly into the Ghanaian government's GPRS II.

A glance at Ghana's macroeconomic figures reveals a promising development: the GDP-growth was 6.2% in 2006 and has kept its impressive level. The inflation rate remained at 11.2 %, despite the energy crisis.

The international rating companies rate Ghana with B+ and World Bank and IMF see good opportunities for further growth and economic development. In addition to that stable macroeconomic environment Ghana offers political stability, functioning democratic structures and a good level of security and safety. All this is being based on a successfully ongoing process of democratisation and the peaceful coexistence of the religions.

The bilateral trade figures between Ghana and Germany in 2006 increased to 283.5 Mio. EUR, therein 158.3 Mio EUR for German exports to Ghana and 125.2 Mio EUR for Ghanaian exports to Germany. Germany imports from Ghana are mostly Cocoa (55.6%), timber (13.4%), aluminium (16.5%) and tropical fruits (5.8%) whereas Ghana imports from Germany primarily vehicles (31.1%), machinery (21.1%) and chemical products (14.6%).

118 investments of German companies have been registered so far (source: GIPC). It goes without saying that there is much more potential for German investment in Ghana and the bilateral trade could be more diversified.

Let me emphasize that German investors are interested in Ghana. This can be seen from enquiries reaching the GGEA or the German Embassy. Another indicator for the growing entrepreneurial interest in Ghana is the broad attendance of the so-called Ghana-Days, organised by the Hamburg based German Afrika-Verein.

Unfortunately the threshold between an initial interest and the setting-up of a business remains high. The interest of potential investors has to be encouraged and has also to be met by conducive investment conditions in the given host country. More could be done to encourage investment decisions by establishing clear and transparent rules for investors.

I mention the transparency of import and customs procedures, the registration process, access to land or access to justice and the strict pursuance of the "zero tolerance vis-à-vis corruption policy" that has been introduced by the Ghanaian Government.

In addition, measures to improve the infrastructure, especially for energy and transport as well as a successful public sector reform could considerably improve the investment climate.

An intensification of the trade and business relations between Germany's and Ghana's business communities can play a significant role in further developing the private sector in Ghana, creating more job opportunities in Ghana as well as in Germany. Germans have developed a keen interest in Ghana and a variety of events have been responsible for that. Just to mention a few:

Ghana's 50th independence anniversary celebration and at the same time the celebration of 50 years fruitful Ghanaian-German political and economic relations, Ghana's excellent performance at the World cup in Germany last year, the visit by President Köhler to Ghana in January 2007 and - at this opportunity - the organisation of the second Afrika-Forum hosted by both the Ghanaian and the German President, the participation of President Kufuor in the G8-Summit in Heiligendamm in June, 2007

President Kufuor's participation in the third Afrika-Forum due to take place in Germany in November this year and the signing of a partnership agreement between the German State of North-Rhine-Westphalia and Ghana directly after the third Afrika-Forum will further enhance this interest.

All this constitutes a political drive which could be and should also be beneficial to economic relations. But we have to make use of that momentum and to come forward with more activities for the sake of our bilateral economic and trade relations .The GGEA's trade fair we are opening today is a very welcome initiative in this direction.

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