Development experts, multinationals meet in Accra

Development experts from state agencies and private companies are meeting in Accra to discuss how multinational enterprises can contribute more to the growth of the country.

The participants are expected to share views on how to improve interaction between local and foreign firms towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The recommendations of the experts are to be incorporated into a research being conducted by the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The research, which forms part of the Multinational Enterprises in Emerging Markets (MNEmerge) project, is funded by the European Union (EU).

Preliminary findings of the research are expected to be presented at the two-day workshop, which has the theme: “Multinational enterprises in Africa: Challenges and options for an effective development”.

Workshop

Opening the workshop yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Alfred Sugri Tia, said foreign direct investment (FDI) was crucial to the development of Ghana and other developing countries.

“In Ghana, FDI is critical to our national economy and through the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), we attracted over $1.3 billion from January to September 2014,” he said.

He said the investments made a direct contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), created employment and contributed to poverty reduction.

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He affirmed the government’s commitment to provide policies to support businesses to attain their objectives, as well as the targets set in the MDGs.

In that vein, Dr Tia said, the government was ready to work with the findings of the EU-funded research project to enhance the operations of companies.

CSIR

The Director General of the CSIR, Dr Victor Agyemang, said multinational enterprises got involved in the developing process through knowledge sharing, strategic partnerships and technological collaboration.

He said the combination of direct and indirect benefits derived from interactions with multinational enterprises should impact positively on the achievement of the MDGs.

The Director of STEPRI, Dr George Owusu Essegbey, called for the strengthening of collaboration between local and foreign companies, adding that the necessary policies must be formulated to expand the scope of multinational enterprises in the country.