By Francis Ntow
Accra, Dec 17, GNA – The Deputy Secretary of Commerce for the United States of America (USA), Don Graves, says America is poised to invest in value addition in Ghana’s critical mineral resources.
Ghana is endowed with numerous mineral deposits, including manganese, bauxite, and diamond, which are often exported with little value addition.
The country is Africa’s leading producer of Gold – which accounts for about 95 per cent of Ghana’s mineral revenue.
Mr Graves said the US was interested in mutual investment and trade arrangements that would see the US support value addition of critical minerals and other resources, while strengthening bilateral relations between Ghana and the US.
Speaking during a virtual media engagement on the outcomes of the US-Africa Business Forum (USABF), he said the US stood ready to help Ghana and other African countries to transform critical minerals to support economic growth.
Other investment areas he said would be health, agriculture, energy and technology.
Mr Graves said: “It’s not just extraction of the Minerals, but the value addition to processing those critical minerals and those resources, so that Africans expand and grow their economies all across the continent.”
The Deputy Secretary of Commerce said many US companies had found Ghana and Morocco as countries with business-friendly environments and were ready to explore opportunities in those countries for mutual gains.
He said: “A number of US companies are now seeing countries like Ghana and Morocco in a new light. They now understand [that] it is so much easier to do business on the continent than we had thought before.
“So, I expect that there will be more US investments; there’ll be more bilateral trade and also opportunities for Ghanaians and Moroccans and so many others to look at the US as a good place to do business.”
Beyond the bilateral trade between Ghana and the US, Mr Graves said: “From our perspective here at Commerce, it’s about climate, the digital environment, space commerce, small business and women-owned business. It’s about trade and investment flows that support jobs and create prosperity on the continent and here in the United States.”
On the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), he said the elimination of trade barriers under the initiative would create greater opportunities for African businesses to grow and to develop into the major global trading companies.
The US Deputy Secretary of Commerce said: “It’s going to streamline access for services among African countries. That’s important because it makes the continent a much more attractive market for the US.”
Data provided by the White House showed that since 2021, the US Government had helped close more than 800 two-way trade and investment deals across 47 African countries for a total estimated value of over $18 billion.
Also, the US private sector has closed investment deals in Africa valued at $8.6 billion, while US goods and services trade with Africa totalled $83.6 billion in 2021.
GNA