Ghana, Italy to Deepen Relationship

By Claude Nyarko Adams

Ghana and Italy yesterday renewed their commitment to strengthen their partnerships to promote investment in key sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

At a meeting in Accra with the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, Giovanni Favalli, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, said the government was focused on reviewing its relationship with development partners to focus on trade and investment as part of efforts to realise the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda.

In attendance at the meeting was a delegation including the Chief Executive of SACE SIMEST, Italian export credit company, Alessandro Decio, who are in the country to explore investment opportunities.

In line with the agenda, the minister stated that government has so far rolled out strategic trade, agricultural and industrial policies including the One District One Factory (1D1F), Planting for Food and Jobs, among others to enhance food production, value addition, export and job creation for a resilient and sustainable economy.

She explained that government's strategic plan was to modernise the country through infrastructure and create economic conditions necessary for businesses to thrive.

"As a government, our focus is to build a Ghana that offers the best destination for investments and business growth.

We aimed at doing this by providing and improving social infrastructure that is the basis for all good things to come. We are again creating the right economic environment that is needed for sustainable businesses," the minister added.

This, she said would be achieved through partnerships with countries and organisations and urged Italian investors and businesses to make Ghana the preferred destination for investments.

Government, would thus, require of such partners to strictly adhere to the local content policy which was key in all of the initiatives implemented by government to accelerate the country's development, Madam Dapaah explained.

On his part, Mr. Favalli said the visit was to discuss investment opportunities in the country and government's priorities in advancing its development agenda.

He stated that Italy was pursuing a comprehensive strategy to improve its relations with African countries, especially Ghana, to support its development and build mutually beneficial partnership.

In realisation of the plan to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa, the Ambassador said Italy was ready to make available its technology and explore investment opportunities in the area of waste management to create jobs.

Mr Decio noted that in addition to current Italian investment in various water projects in the Volta Region, he said SACE was ready to finance other projects to enable the realisation of the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda.

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