Ghana is ready to accommodate American investors and enterprises – Akufo-Addo

He said the country had a viable business climate ready to accommodate American investment, technology, and enterprises.

Delivering a keynote address at the National Governors Association 2018 Winter Meeting in Washington, DC; the first African leader to do so, Akufo-Addo said the government had begun processes to restructure the country’s economy in a way that promotes the growth of private businesses.

“There is a lot of opportunity for American capital, technology and enterprise in Ghana, and indeed in Africa, and we welcome companies from all your states to participate in the exceptional opportunities that exist in our country and on the continent,” Akufo-Addo said.

“We are hopeful that with solid private sector participation, we can develop a modern railway network with strong production centre linkages and with the potential to connect us to our neighbours to the north, i.e. Burkina Faso, the west, i.e. Cote d’Ivoire, and to the east, Togo,” he further noted.

Indicating some of the new viable areas of partnership and investment, Akufo-Addo told the about 50 US governors at the meeting that the country would soon establish an Integrated Bauxite-Aluminium Development Authority that will assemble the financial resources for the systematic exploitation and development of bauxite deposits.

“…we have decided to exploit our substantial iron ore and manganese deposits, situated in the Western and Northern regions of our country, to build an integrated steel industry to serve the needs of our country and region,” he said.

On the country’s oil resource, the President said, “we are making systematic efforts to develop our new oil and gas industry, into which ExxonMobil has just appeared, signing on 18th January this year, a major offshore oil and gas exploration and production agreement with Ghana. We are determined also to establish the relevant petrochemical industries to take advantage of the growth of our oil and gas industry.”