Representatives of 17 businesses and institutions from Latvia, yesterday, met their counterparts in Ghana to expand trade and investment relations between the two countries.
Dubbed “The Ghana-Latvia Business Forum,” it was the second meeting since a Ghanaian business/ government delegation visited the European country in 2018 for business and investment promotion forum.
Led by the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkevics, members of the delegation are drawn from sectors such as trade, Information, Communication, Technology (ICT) and higher education.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, described the forum as a step forward in deepening bilateral economic ties.
Since the first meeting, happenings such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war had underscored the need for governments and businesses to be innovative for economic and sustainable growth.
She expressed the hope that the forums would yield tangible partnerships and joint ventures between the two countries whose bilateral friendships dates back to 1992.
Beyond exploring investment opportunities in Ghana, he urged the two countries to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which has its headquarters in Accra.
“Ghana offers one of Africa’s most conducive environments for business and investment, a dedicated and progressive government-private sector relations, political stability and a robust regulatory environment and I urge you to make Ghana your preferred investment destination,” she said.
On his part, Mr Rinkevics said, the two countries had enjoyed fruitful relations on the political, development and economic fronts and that his country was ready to expand the relations to the technologies, where it was experienced.
He said Latvia was seeking more cooperation in the areas of education, solutions for startups; wood processing industry or chemical industry and trade and investment.
He shared in Ms Botchwey’s view on the need to look for ways to mitigate some consequences of the Russian-Ukraine war as well as ship up Ghana-Latvia trade which increased by more than 20 per cent in 2020.
Representatives of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre and Ghana Free Zones Authority, took turns to highlight investment opportunities in Ghana and make a case for Latvian businesses in invest in Ghana.
As part of the forum, the Riga Technical University of Latvia and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and technologies signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ghana’s University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani.
The five year pact would pave the way for collaborations between the three universities in terms of student exchange programmes, joint research and degrees, exchange of tools, summer school with emphasis on energy and natural resources.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
