GIPC Meets Ghana Club 100 CEO's�Public And Private Investments To Be Strengthened

The new Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trebah, has in a meeting with CEO�s of Ghana Club 100 indicated that her outfit, which is seen as the main investment marketing agency for business opportunities in the country, will combine both public and private sector facilities and talents to ensure optimum results. According to her, GIPC will help to deliver direct investments (both foreign and local) into jobs, high impact interventions on critical economic indicators and those key factors needed to drive investment decisions. The GIPC, she said, has the mandate to diligently pursue, attract and retain investments, both foreign and local to support His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama�s agenda and will do so with the active participation of the Ghana Club 100. The meeting sought to project the right image and reputation of GIPC and the entire nation as the first destination of choice for investing in Africa; where every investor and anyone else who influences investing decisions globally will have only positive experiences for execution of commercial opportunities in Ghana. It also offered members of the Ghana Club 100 as a collective body, the opportunity to share ideas for the first time with the GIPC and design a road map towards leveraging the various opportunities thereof to grow their businesses. Present at the meeting were representatives from Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), the Chamber of Mines, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, the Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) among others. Last year, the GIPC registered a total of 399 projects with an estimated value of GHC 10.14 billion ( US$5.63 bn). Though, the projects registered a decline of 22% from the 514 projects with a value of US$7.68bn in the corresponding period of 2011, the appreciable levels of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) recorded in 2012 (an election year), was a reflection of investor�s confidence in the economy. Meanwhile, over 24,000 jobs are expected to be created this year due to FDI projects in the country. According to the GIPC, out of that figure over 22,000 will be for Ghanaians with the remaining allocated to expatriates. Mrs Mawuena Trebah gave the assurance that the GIPC will offer robust incentives that will benefit not only investors, but also the country in the long term and also provide sound regulatory practices that are respected. She expressed the desire of the GIPC to have regular interactions with the Ghana Club 100 to know the hiccups and frustrations, since she considers them as the best ambassadors for the country so far as investing in the country is concerned. �Making the local companies in the country strong is another way to attract new ones into the country and once the President is committed to doing something different for the private sector in the country, we will do all we can to lend our support....We are going to ensure that we project the right image and reputation of GIPC to stakeholders, while ensuring that investors who come to Ghana through the GIPC have only positive experiences in the country," Mrs Trebah said.