efforts to provide soft infrastructure and modernise the economy would help to flourish their businesses.

He said the Government was determined to utilise technology to ensure efficient social services, value for money and for becoming the best business-friendly nation in Africa to promote trade and investments.

Vice President Bawumia  was delivering the keynote address at the Third Edition of the UK-Ghana Investment Summit in Accra, held on the theme: “The Investment Case for Ghana”.

The two-day Summit, organised jointly by the UK Government, the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce (UKGCC), the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ghana Investment Promotion Council, attracted captains of industry, the development partners and Ministers of State, as well as the UK Business Community and public institutions.

Vice President Bawumia, who is also the Head of the Economic Management Team, said the various digital infrastructure would be integrated into a comprehensive platform under the National Identification System so that individuals would have unique identity cards to access basic social services without difficulty.

“We will begin to see how all of these things stick together for our common good,” he stated.

The transformation and modernisation we’re doing is to support this vision of “Ghana Beyond Aid” because the world now is about data and when you understand your data, you can manage your economy very well and ensure efficiency and productivity”.

He, therefore, called for patience from Ghanaians and, thus, urged them to collectively support the Government’s innovative policies, saying that, those policies would, in the long run, inure to the benefit of all Ghanaians.

 It would also facilitate the nation’s aspiration of becoming an industrialised and modern economy to create wealth and prosperity for all.

Recounting some of the efforts towards development, he said, the Akufo-Addo-led -Government, on assumption of office about 20 months ago, embarked on a number of innovative policies to address some key challenges confronting Ghanaians and foreign investors in accessing basic social services.

He mentioned the difficulty in accessing services such as the driver’s licence, securing passport, registration of business, registration of land titles, among others, which retarded the nation’s socio-economic development over the past 60 years.

In the bid to address those challenges, the Vice President said the Government rolled out digital-based policies to address them, including the Smart Drivers’ Licence and Registration of Vehicles, National Property Addressing System, e-business and e-passport registration, the ongoing National Identification System (Ghana Card), among other innovative programmes, to provide the “soft infrastructure” for both Ghanaians and potential investors to leverage on for smooth business transactions.

Government officials from both countries held high-level discussions on infrastructure, trade and investment, manufacturing and industrialisation and explored potential partnerships between Ghana and UK businesses and investment opportunities for their mutual benefits.

Mr Iain Walker, the British High Commissioner, earlier in an address, said the Summit aimed at exploring avenues to build upon the strong and historic bilateral relations that existed between the nations for their mutual benefits.

He said the UK viewed Ghana as an equal partner in development and was committed to building the “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda, not just as a rhetoric but to bring it into reality.

He gave the assurance that the UK Government would work collaboratively with the government of Ghana to realise her development aspirations, adding that public-private partnerships was the way to go.

The second-day of the Summit was dedicated to discussions on the state of the country’s infrastructure and industrialisation and how potential investors could leverage on it to support the “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda.

Mr Yofi Grant, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, in a presentation on the investment opportunities in Ghana, said the nation over the years had positioned herself as the gateway to West Africa, and was strategically located at the centre of the world to welcome potential investors to the Sub-region.

He outlined some priority areas for investment and mentioned the energy and power, information communication technology, banking and finance, trade and industry, oil and gas, road and railway infrastructure and agriculture.

He emphasised that the Government was looking for partnerships in other sectors like real estate, and adding value to the agricultural raw materials so that the country would be competitive on the global stage.

The second day of the Summit was dedicated to discussions on the state of the country’s infrastructure and industrialisation and how potential investors could leverage on it to support the “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda.