By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Accra, June 20, GNA-The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) will on June 23rd and 24th, 2021, hold the maiden Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit at the Kempinski Gold Coast City Hotel in Accra.
The two-day event, on the theme, “The New Normal, Leveraging Diaspora Investments to build back better” will create an opportunity to foster partnerships between domestic and diaspora investors, and showcase Ghana as the destination of choice for doing business, as well as to spur the inflow of Diaspora Direct Investments.
It is expected to bring together various primary stakeholders to steer conversations on the Ghana-Diaspora business relationship.
Mr Reginald Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of GIPC, announced this at a media briefing in Accra on Sunday.
Among the host of speakers who would address the participants are the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Mr Wamkele Mene, Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, and the Chief Executive Officer of the GIPC, Mr Yofi Grant.
The Summit is consistent with the recent, « Beyond the Return » initiative, which is a follow-up to the « Year of Return” campaign that was launched in 2019.
It is expected to engender a more constructive interaction with Africans in the diaspora and all people of African descent in areas such as trade and investment, as well as skills and knowledge development.
It will be recalled that while commemorating the ‘Year of Return’, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stressed on the need to effectively mobilize and engage the diaspora as active partners in the country’s development.
“Let us all remember that the destiny of all black people no matter where they are in the world is bound up with Africa.
« We must help make Africa the place for investment, progress and prosperity and not from where our youth flee in the hope of accessing the mirage of a better life in Europe or the Americas,” the President said.
The government has initiated various measures to amplify and create awareness for a greater contribution from diasporas, including the setting-up of the Diaspora Investment Desk (DID) at the GIPC.
Mr Grant said a lot of Diasporans have consistently expressed interest in either living or establishing a business in Ghana.
« It is, therefore, our expectation to convert these opportunities to viable economic activity that will benefit the nation and the continent as a whole.
“I’m confident that the summit will, thus, open the door for partnerships and encourage sustained home-based investments by persons in the diaspora, as we consider them as our partners in development”, he added.
The Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit is being held under the auspices of the Office of the President and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ministry of Information, the Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President, Diaspora Africa Forum, and Beyond the Return Secretariat under the Ghana Tourism Authority.
There will be exhibitions and opportunity to pitch projects during the Summit.
