President John Dramani Mahama’s attendance to the just-ended 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-9) is set to deliver remarkable and tangible outcomes for Ghana.
The President, with his delegation, including ministers of state and heads of agencies, has reached a myriad of agreements with Japanese government and businesses at the three-day conference in Yokohama, Japan.
Some of the areas of renewed and deepened cooperation include infrastructure development, industrialisation, technology, agriculture amongst others.
For example, both Ghana and Japan have agreed to provide the additional funding required to revive the Volivo to Dorfor Adidome Bridge across the Volta River.
This engagement is subsequent to the commitment of Japan, through its International Cooperation Agency, earlier in June when the Senior Executive Vice President of the agency, Miyazaki Katsura, called on the President at the Presidency in Accra.
The Kumasi inner city ring way project was also a subject of discussion between the two countries and is to commence soon.
The project aims to improve the traffic condition in Kumasi by upgrading intersections on the Kumasi Inner Ring Road and widening the two-lane road between the two intersections to four lanes to enhance the city’s connectivity with other cities and towns.
Through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Agribusiness, the government also reached a deal with Japanese car maker, Toyota, to expand its operations in Ghana and make Ghana its West African hub, and promote the manufacturing of environmentally friendly vehicles starting with hybrid electric vehicles.
With Japan considering to invest a dedicated US$1.5 billion in Africa in the short term, Ghana is positioning itself to tap into that pool with an elaborate industrialisation plan anchored on the 24 hour economy policy.
In the area of agriculture, President Mahama personally led discussions for an agreement with Japanese firm, Degas, for a US$100 million investment over the next four years to help establish Ghana as Africa’s first AI-powered agricultural hub.
The agric pact also emphasizes a special cooperation anchored on latest scientific research to boost rice production in Ghana and attain food security.
In the technology space, a deal has also been sealed for Ghana to benefit from the training of a targeted 300,000 youth in AI, modern agriculture, green transition, tech-start-ups, and biotechnology.
As the President declared at the Presidential Investment Forum on the opening day at the conference, Ghana is ready for business and is working to remove all the barriers that hinder investments in the country.
“We are open for business and are busy at work reviewing the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act to remove some barriers to foreign investments”.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
