Foreign Minister woos Latvian investors

THE Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has urged investors from Latvia to make Ghana their preferred investment destination to deepen the economic relationship between the two countries.

She said despite the challenges faced by Ghana in recent times, it remained one of Africa's most conducive destinations for doing business.

The minister, who was speaking at the Ghana-Latvia Business Forum in Accra yesterday, said diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had grown steadily politically, dated back to 1992.

The forum formed part of a two-day working visit by a business delegation from the Republic of Latvia, led by its Foreign Affairs Minister, Edgars Rinkevics.

It is the second to be organised since July 2018 when Ms Botchwey led a 15-member government and business delegation to Latvia.  

She said the event provided an opportunity for the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority and the Free Zones Board to share experiences and investment opportunities in the country with the Latvian business community.

Significance

Ms Botchwey said the partnership between Ghanaian investors and entrepreneurs and their Latvian counterparts would offer the latter more trade opportunities, as offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which has its secretariat in Accra, with access to Africa’s vast market of over 1.3 billion people.

“It is, therefore, my hope that this forum will result in the building of stronger economic ties and an increase in bilateral trade and investment between our two countries,” she added.

The Chief Executive Officer of Free Zones Authority, Mike Oquaye Jnr, said ICT was a priority area of the authority and, therefore, urged Latvian ICT companies to explore and take advantage of the opportunities the sector offered in Ghana.

He said they could also venture into other businesses, such as food security, fertiliser production, wood processing, among others.

Areas of interest

 Mr Rinkevics said Latvia’s business community was much interested in the development of Ghana, especially in the fields of education, chemical industries, medicine and ICT and were thus committed to exchanging ideas for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

Some of the Latvian investors, he said, had already established contacts and relationships with their Ghanaian counterparts and expressed the hope that the visit would further deepen their ties.

With Ghana being a member of the UN Security Council, the minister said, Latvia would also learn and share experiences on security.

The University of Energy and Natural Resources signed a memorandum of understanding with two top universities in Latvia — the Riga Technical University and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies — to collaborate and exchange technology, particularly on energy and natural resources.