As part of increasing efforts to enhance trade and facilitate investment in the country, Access Bank Ghana, one of the largest retail banks in Ghana today, has hosted the second edition of its Access-China Connect Business Forum for Asian companies including Chinese-related businesses.
The virtual event was under the theme, “Growing Chinese Business across Ghana & Beyond’, and brought togetherover 100 local and foreign companies to deliberate on key issues that affect their businesses and trade between both countries.
Speaking on key investment opportunities that the participants can take advantage of, the Deputy CEO of Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), Nana Dufie Addo, in a speech read on her behalf by Mr. Edward Lartey, Director Investor Services-GIPC indicated that the Ghanaian economy is on recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and will see significant growth by end of this year. She added that government’s initiatives such as the one district, one factory and planting for food and jobs are designed to attract investment and support the growth of Ghana’s economy.
She called on the businesses to engage the GIPC to help them identify key areas of interest that they can invest as there abounds a lot of business opportunities within the country.
Engaging participants at the event, the Managing Director of Access Bank Ghana, Olumide Olatunji used the opportunity to highlight that banks as key financial intermediaries are well equipped to facilitate trade and investment support for the many Chinese and Asian firms that have economic and trade activities in Ghana.
He added that, “With the introduction of our Chinese Business Desk, it continues to be an exciting experience serving businesses with Chinese and Asian interest within Ghana, Africa and beyond. We are able to provide the right support to close the financing gaps hampering trade activities in Ghana and the sub-region because we have global investment experience and strong local industry expertise that these companies are able to tap into”.
Other speakers at the forum included Mr. Yan Liquan – Deputy Secretary General, Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the General Manager for Asian Business Division in Access Bank Group, Maxim Wenhia Zhang.
Ghana for the past 2 years has remained the 7th largest trading partner of China in Africa and China happens to be Ghana’s largest trading partner to date. In 2019, the bilateral trade volume between both countries was 7.46 billion USD from 6.6 billion US dollars in 2018 and this expected to increase for the 2020/2021 report.
Economic ties between Ghana and China dates far back as independence, since the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Chairman Mao Zedong. Both countries have to date continued to maintain a healthy, strong and dynamic bilateral collaboration on several fronts.
Access Bank Ghana continues to place a huge priority on efforts that enhance trade and investment across diverse local and foreign-owned businesses. Operating from 52 locations across the country, the Bank is also leading the way with investments in key sectors of the economy including telecommunications, energy, oil and gas, manufacturing and agriculture. These have contributed to the Bank being recognised in various awards including the 2020 Global Financial Inclusion Award by The Banker Magazine, and recently as the Best Innovative Retail Bank and Best CSR Bank by Global Brands Awards.
Today, the Access Bank Group is the largest bank in Africa by customers with presence in almost every continent including key global economic centres such as London, Dubai, Lebanon and Beijing.
