Ghana-Netherlands Business Group Meets Bawumia

The Board of the Ghana Netherlands Business & Culture Council (GNBCC) last week paid a courtesy visit to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

With members such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Unilever Ghana, Wienco, the Vlisco Group, Vivo Energy, Dutch&Co, PwC Ghana and IOI Loders Croklaan, the GNBCC serves as a bilateral Chamber of Commerce for Ghana and the Netherlands.

It represents the business interests of both Ghanaian and Dutch companies and renders business development and support services to its members. The Netherlands is currently Ghana's fifth largest export destination, third largest import partner and among its biggest investment partners.

The GNBCC signalled its readiness to partner the government in implementing its pro-business reform agenda and expressed its hope that this would lead to strengthened private sector engagements between the Netherlands and Ghana.

A trade mission that GNBCC had facilitated earlier this month on food processing technologies and packaging, had once again demonstrated the vast opportunities for further trade and investments between the two countries.

In order to fully seize this potential, a conducive business enabling environment is key. The Vice President therefore shared some of the measures the government is already taking to this effect.

Being granted the opportunity, GNBCC also shared some concrete examples of challenges perceived by its members. Issues raised were the risks of counterfeit and smuggling to Ghana's textile industry, the facilitation of the production of energy from waste and challenges related to the ports, such as the costs of clearing goods and the relatively long processing times in Tema.

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