Business

KMA Boss Meets Turkish Investors, Enlightens Them On Business Opportunities

 

 

Hon.Osei Assibey Antwi, the acting Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) has stated that there are many investment opportunities that can be tapped by Turkish Investors.

He has therefore assured them of conducive environment to operate in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital which is the center of businesses.

According to the acting Mayor of Kumasi, the Turkish investors can tap to investment opportunities in construction, hospitality, education, road construction, Assembly plants among other sectors which the local businesses need empowerment and capital investment through partnership.

Hon.Osei Assibey Antwi made the call on Wednesday, 25th August, 2021 during a working visit to him by Turkish’s Ambassador to Ghana,Oziem Ergun Uluerem (PhD).

 

 

Their interaction centered on how best Turkish’s Governments and Turkish investors as well as KMA and investors in Kumasi can tap into available investment opportunities so as to improve upon their businesses.

The mayor said Kumasi, for that matter Ashanti region is endowed with so many opportunities and the businessmen and women are very committed and dedicated people who are willing to expand their businesses with equally committed investment partners. He therefore called on Turkish’s Ambassador to facilitate the necessary processes to help bring Investors in her country and investors in Kumasi together as soon as possible.

According to hon.Osei Assibey Antwi, business is in the blood of people of Kumasi and they were ever ready to partner with Turkish’s investors. Adding that, the need for them to take concrete steps to tap into available business opportunities in Kumasi cannot be overemphasized.

He suggested to the Ambassador that,Turkish government can also adopt the strategic of China by creating TURKISH EXIM to help lobby Ghanaians traders into their market like Chinese has done.

Moreover, Turkish Government can also considered running exchange progammes with Ghana, especially Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST) which is in Kumasi among other big universities to enable block language barrier once they are determined to partner Kumasi and for that matter Ghana in development.

 

The acting Mayor also assured the Ambassador to facilitate the necessary processes through the relevant stakeholders to make Kumasi the hub of Turkish’s Investment.

The Turkish’ Ambassador to Ghana, Oziem Ergun Uluerem (PhD) also indicated her outfit readiness to facilitate the necessary processes to bring Investors in Turkish and Kumasi together to enable them tap into the available business opportunities. She said Turkish Government is ready to partner with Kumasi and they were ready to do everything possible to make their bilateral and economic cooperation a reality. The Ambassador and her entourage who were very delighted with the reception accorded them promised to put necessary measures in place to cement their relationship with Kumasi.

Meanwhile, facts available indicate that, as at 2020 the overall trade volume between the two(Ghana and Turkish) countries soared by about 62%. A record-breaking year, beating expectations of many trade analysts who were anticipating a significant drop in trade activity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Records indicate that total trade volume as at the end of December 2020 stood at $771m, up from $476m as at December 2019. Ghana’s exports to Turkey shot up by an astonishing 188% over that of 2019, rising from $102m to $294m.

Turkish exports to Ghana also enjoyed strong growth, jumping some 28% over the 2019 figures. Total exports to Ghana as at December 2020 stood at $477m up from $374 million the year before.

It would be recalled also that in line with Turkey’s African opening policy to improve Turkey’s commercial and investment relations with African countries and the Continent as a whole; Turkey-Africa II. Economic and Business Forum, hosted by the Ministry of Trade and organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEiK) in collaboration with the African Union (AU), began in Istanbul on October 10, 2018 with the honoring of T.R. President H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

President of Turkey H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Ethiopia H.E. Dr. Mulatu Teshome, Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda H.E. Edouard Ngirente, T.R. Minister of Trade H.E. Ruhsar Pekcan, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission H.E. Victor Harison, DEiK President Mr. Nail Olpak and Pan-African Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Mr. Melak Ezezew delivered their remarks at the opening of Turkey-Africa II. Economy and Business Forum, where the political leaders and senior decision-makers in Africa and important portfolio managers and business people come together.

Making a speech at Turkey-Africa II. Economic and Business Forum, President Erdogan highlighted the importance Turkey attaches to its cooperation with Africa, and said: “We want to improve our relations, built on mutual respect, in all areas on the basis of win-win and equal partnership. Since we took office, we have been working in this spirit in order to strengthen our cooperation with the whole of Africa without any discrimination, especially in the period of my Prime Ministry in 2005, we have declared the “African Year”. Since then, the tempo has increased. When we took office, we had 12 embassies in Africa and today we have 41 embassies. This number will continue to increase”.

“Turkey’s Africa initiative has found broad echo and been highly appreciated across the continent. The friendly hand our country extended has never been left unreciprocated by African countries. As we have strengthened our diplomatic presence across the continent, African countries have also increased the number of their diplomatic missions in Turkey from 10 to 33. Our African friends have lent strong support to the rightful struggle Turkey has been putting up at such international platforms as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation for the establishment of global peace and justice,” President Erdogan stated.

Also highlighting the struggle being waged for economic independence, President Erdoğan said: “I am telling all of my African friends, brothers and sisters, let’s do business with local currencies, national currencies. Let’s save our countries from the pressure of foreign currencies and exchange rates. We have to take this step. This has become an issue high on the agenda for us due to the speculative attacks we have sustained in the last couple of weeks. We have covered a distance of certain extent in the negotiations we have been holding for awhile now with other countries like Russia, China, Iran, etc. I am confident that we will achieve much bigger successes on this issue as the process continues. We stand ready to develop trade in local currencies not only with our main trade partners, but with all countries including our African friends.”

The Ethiopian President Dr. Mulatu Teshome expressed that he believes Turkey and Africa will build a sustainable future together and said; “Mr. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a big breakthrough in terms of our economic partnership. After Turkey’s Africa expansion policy, these two regions had the opportunity to get better acquainted with each other. Africa’s strategy for attracting foreign direct investment objectives coincided with Turkey’s goals.

Turkey is now one of the 3 largest investors in Ethiopia and there is a 2.5 billion dollar Turkish investment in the region.The Turkish business community employs 150 companies and 30 thousand people. While Turkey has 440 million dollars import to Ethiopia, also Ethiopia has an import of 36 million dollars to Turkey. As Ethiopia, we invite Turkish business people to our country for new investments with our natural energy resources, more than 100 million workforce, strong macro economy and stable management. Fortunately, we learned that Turkish business people wanted to establish industrial zones in Ethiopia. Ethiopia, will always be next to Turkey on this issue and will provide its utmost support. Friendship and solidarity between Turkey and Africa in the coming period will continue as more powerful in accordance with the common goals”.

Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirent noted that he attended on behalf of President of Rwanda and the African Union Term President Paul Kagame and said; “We have reached a $ 20.6 billion business volume, together with our strong economic ties between Turkey and Africa. We have achieved this through cooperation between public and private sectors. We appreciate the approach of Turkey’s proposal for a solution to Africa’s problems.We want to improve in the industry issue by developing stronger relations with Turkey for sustainable development goals. Our free trade area has a very large potential for Turkey.

About Post Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *