President John Dramani Mahama Tuesday hosted a special Ghana–South Africa Business forum at the Labadi Beach Hotel with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, with a charge on participants to network for development of their respective countries.
President Mahama reaffirmed that he is “fully committed to engaging with the private sector to support your commercial interests while concurrently driving development for our respective countries. Indeed, many of the bilateral meetings between various sector Ministers will only reinforce that commitment.”
The President commended the participants for lively discussions on key sectors of economic development including energy, infrastructure, oil and gas, agriculture and manufacturing.
“I have been informed that there is a great deal of enthusiasm behind value creation across the entire commerce chain and this is exactly the direction the continent must continue to progress,” he advised.
President Mahama talked about the special relationship between the two countries, confirming that, “Ghana and South Africa have a long standing geopolitical history and I believe our statistics on investment over the last decade between the two countries demonstrate that there is fundamentally more room to partner.“
He said the country’s desire to partner South African businesses was revived under former President Mills of blessed memory. He therefore pledged his commitment to continue that legacy with investment promotion activities he initiated in June this year to South Africa.
“These have among others culminated in an exciting USD $40 million dollar investment in the steel beneficiation industry through the Scaw Metals Group of South Africa. I am delighted that myself and President Zuma will be there to commission it tomorrow.“
President Mahama, encouraging a South-South opportunity for trade and investment said “there is no question that Africa is the last great business frontier. However, in order to leverage the opportunities for profitability and development we must maximize our individual experiences on the continent and build our strength in partnerships with outcomes that create more negotiating power on the global business stage.”
The President called the business community to “count on my continued commitment to working with H.E. President Zuma to propel private sector development in order to transform our economies and create the requisite development that truly defines the hopes and aspirations of this great continent.”
