The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey paid an official working visit to the People’s Republic of China. The visit which was at the invitation of the State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Mr. Wang Yi, was used by both Foreign Ministers to reaffirm their countries’ commitment to further deepen relations with each other. It also sought to woo investors to help translate Ghana’s industrial transformation, which includes the “One District One Factory” agenda of the government.
Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey noted that the Government of Ghana attaches great importance to developing Ghana-China relations which has been in existence for a long time. She observed that the bilateral relations between the two countries should be further deepened.
She further indicated that Ghana hopes to learn from the experience of China in terms of reform and development, infrastructure construction and cooperation in trade and investment. The Minister intimated that Ghana would advocate for cooperation that brings in progress and promotes in-depth development between Africa, Sub-Regional Organisations and China.
For his part, Mr. Wang Yi indicated that the friendship between China and Ghana was jointly established and cultivated by the older generation of Leaders of both countries and that the current generation should maintain it and also pass it on to the next generation.
He noted that China will in accordance with its policy towards Africa, make concerted efforts towards promoting bilateral relations with Ghana for constant and forward looking development. He also indicated that there will be extensive consultation, joint contribution and cooperation which will be of mutual benefit for both Countries.
Hon. Shirely Ayorkor Botchwey, who was accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yoofi Grant and a Ghanaian delegation also visited Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd one of the world’s leading gaints in the Telecommunications sector.
In her interactions with the management of the Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd, Hon. Ayorkor Botchwey observed that Ghana is part of forty four (44) countries who have signed onto the Continental Free Trade Agreement which implies that Africa will have a market of over 1 million. She indicated that “free trade coupled with the youthful population boom on the continent means that Ghana with her political and economic stability will be the place to do business”. She further appealed to the company to establish one of its research and development centres in Ghana .
Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Mr. Edward Boateng, lauded Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd for supporting Ghanaian students to have training at the Headquarters in China in order to sharpen their ICT skills. He indicated that, Ghana has a youthful population who are highly educated and asked that Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd sets up a centre at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to train students in ICT to enable Ghana take advantage of the digital economy.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre underscored the vision of Government which he said was to make Ghana a preferred business destination in Africa and a financial hub in West Africa. He stressed that the internet has the power of providing access to communications, information and opportunity. He, however, indicated that a strong ICT base is needed to achieve these goals.
