STATEMENT BY MR. CLEMENT OSEI-AMOAKO, PRESIDENT OF THE GHANA NATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY AT THE WAKANDA-ONE TRADE EXPO

I bring you warm greetings on behalf of the business community in Ghana. As a collaborator of this event, the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) deeply appreciates the efforts made by stakeholders towards the organisation of the Wakanda-One Trade Expo as part of the Year of Return and Beyond agenda, initiated by His Excellency, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

As the representative organ of the business community in Ghana and a natural ally of government, it is our view that promoting and protecting trade is critical in driving a country’s development agenda within an atmosphere of cooperation and partnership. More importantly, empirical evidence abounds on the significant role that diasporas play in the socio-economic development of their countries of origin.

Aside their dominant role of sending remittances, diasporas are also noted for promoting trade and foreign direct investment, creating and stimulating businesses and entrepreneurship, as well as transferring new knowledge and skills.

Initiatives such as the Wakanda-One Trade Expo therefore becomes one of the targeted vehicles to mobilise resources for the continuous development of the Central Region as a safe haven for investment. This could go a long way to address the issue of unemployment being faced by our teeming youth.  

It is my expectation that this event will leverage on the dual-role of promotion and facilitation of the diaspora community in building synergies to attract the needed resources to complement local development programmes. 

I wish to assure all participants that the Chamber will continue to promote and protect commercial and industrial interests in the country via its evidence-based advocacy in addition to engagements with the business community and policy makers. We look forward to serving the needs of our members and the business community by designing bespoke business solutions and recommendations through Business Development Support (BDS) services.

Thank you!