By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, June 02, GNA – Mr. Simon Madjie, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) says the GIPC is poised to position the Western Region as one of Ghana’s veritable investment hubs.
“The Western Region has the potential to become the commercial agricultural hub for this country. We at GIPC, are working with the Minister of Trade, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) and others to really position this Region as a favourable place for investment, be it international or local,” he said.
Mr. Madjie made the commitment in an interview with journalists after he handed over a Mitsubishi pick- up to strengthen work at the GIPC’s Takoradi office, which served the Western, Central and Western North Regions.
Already, he said, the GIPC team had met the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Nelson, to consider holding a regional investment forum, as part of plans to market investment potential of Ghana and to map out opportunities within the Region and the districts.
The idea, Mr. Madjie explained, was to make it easier to sell the Region and its districts to investors who were interested in investing in the Region.
“We also want to come up with a plan to actually develop an investment page for the Regional Ministers and all other Regional ministers, working with the Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry and our sister agencies, to make it easier for the regional ministers to market their regions and the unique opportunities that they have,” he stressed.
He added that the Takoradi office, which served the Central, Western and Western North Regions, had a unique position, and that, the vehicle would be a vital tool for work, as part of the Ghana Economic Transformation (GET) project, a World Bank project, to retool some of the investment agencies.
The project, Mr. Madjie said, also hoped to serve as a one -step towards ensuring that the GIPC was closer to its clients and to the region
It is also to ensure that the “regions are indeed open for business, while we move around engaging investors and mapping out opportunities and working with the regional authorities.”
The GET project, he said, was also to help operationalise certain processes to encourage investments into Ghana, and announced that, GIPC been able to bring in-country about $100 million dollars of investment.
He said further: “We look forward to working hard to fulfill the other component. This is just 50 percent, and we have been tasked to bring in about $200 million in investment, which is non-oil investment.
“So, we look forward to completing the other 50 percent. And I look forward to a greater GIPC in the Western Region, to make this region great again.”
Mr. Madjie hoped the Takoradi office would work with other agencies in the Ministry to help in the vision of transforming Ghana’s economy and investment drive and harness the full potentials of the country.
He noted that, “The Western Region is a very unique region, — it forms close to about 10 percent of the landmass of this country and has over 17 agricultural districts. It is also unique in terms of its natural resources, gold, cocoa, and all the emerging minerals which are required for the country’s development.
“Now we have seen that with oil, we have had a bit of investment here, but we want to drive more of the investment into the manufacturing sector, into agriculture and agro processing. Because, as you may be aware, the Ministry of Trade is now the Ministry of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, which is agriculture, commercial agriculture, farming to feed industry. So, we have to drive investment into that.”
The GIPC CEO advocated a change of attitude among all professionals in terms of time and work delivery.
Mr. Madjie said the institution was at the forefront of attracting critical investments in-country, reviewing processes, and providing the best customer service to investors.
GNA
Edited by Justina Paaga/Benjamin Mensah