Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari (left), Qatar Chamber’s First Vice-Chairman, presenting a memento to the visiting Ghanaian Minister of Business Development, H E Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, yesterday.
The visiting Ghanaian Minister of Business Development H E Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal said yesterday that Qatar and Ghana are working very closely to expand and deepen bilateral economic cooperation in several promising sectors of the resource-rich, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The Ghanaian minister noted that given the untapped potential and huge investment opportunities in the West African nation, there is a great scope for boosting the level of cooperation, and both sides are working to enhance the bilateral trade and investments, which may increase by more than 3000 folds over the next five years from the existing level.
“We have the best oil & gas resources. We have a lot of minerals, huge arable land and water resources coupled with young population. We are a country with stable government and rule of law. We are developing our infrastructure such as roads, airports, sea ports, and industrial sector in a big way as part of the country’s long-term development strategy,” Minister Awal told the Qatari businesses and investors in a meeting at Qatar Chamber.
He added: “We are offering a lot of attractive benefits and incentives such as tax holidays for up to 10 years. We also have a lot of comparative advantage. Ghana is set to become a hub of export, import and international trade and investment in the region.”
The minister said that Ghana is also developing and modernizing its agriculture and industries in different parts of the country. The President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo has pledged to establish one factory in each district of the country as part of the country’s industrialization programme.
The members of the minister’s accompanying delegation also held B2B meetings with potentials partners and investors from the Qatar. The Qatari side was headed by QC’s First Vice-Chairman Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Towar Al Kuwari.
The meeting touched on reviewing cooperation between the Qatari private sector and its Ghanaian counterpart and identifying investment opportunities available in both sides as well as encouraging Qataris to invest in Ghana.
On his part Al Kuwari said that Qatar and Ghana are bound with strong and rapidly-developing relations which are supported by the keen interest of both leaderships to further improve these relations to higher levels of cooperation.
He noted that exchanging mutual visits between officials of both countries and agreements signed on the sidelines of these visits helped strengthened their cooperation.
“This confirms both countries’ intention and strong desire to promote and develop their relations and to advance them to a higher level in the interests of the two countries and their people,” Al Kuwari said.
He also pointed out that the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani paid an official visit to Ghana in 2017, while the President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo visited Qatar last year, noting that these visits contributed to strengthening bilateral relations and promoting co-operation in all fields.
These visits were a great success and ended with positive results.
With regard their bilateral trade, he said that it recorded a 20 percent growth from QR46m in 2017 to QR55m last year, noting that it is still below aspirations.
QC First Vice Chairman also said that in the light of its strategy to diversify economy, Qatar is keenly interested to increase its investments in Africa, adding that since 2005, Qatari investment on the continent has largely targeted opportunities in the service sector, insurance, finance telecom, mineral, tourism, health and agriculture.
“Ghana is an attractive destination for Qatari investments. Qatari businessmen are eager to get acquainted with the opportunities available in your country, which is witnessing a rapid economic development.” he added.
He urged both countries businessmen to cooperate in joint venture whether in Qatar or in Ghana for the advantage of both economies.
In his concluding remarks, the Ghanaian minister invited Qatari businessmen to visit and invest in his country which offers a lot of investment opportunities in agriculture, infrastructure, construction, oil and gas.
Awal noted that the Ghanaian economy is one of the strongest in Africa, especially in the light of its giant potentials and the provision of raw materials and agricultural lands, affirming that this opens the ways for establishing large-scale projects such as airports, rail ways, roads and bridges in which Qatar can play a key role.
