The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has signed a €762,300 financing agreement with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to help address challenges in the investment sector that had been worsened by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Under the agreement, the two parties would mobilise investment and promote job-creating growth of enterprises in the country.

It will also support potential investors who were unable to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions to obtain relevant information as well as facilitate the design of match-making platforms to connect international investors to local businesses.

The agreement was signed in Accra last Thursday between the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GIPC, Mr Yofi Grant, and the Head of Special Initiative Training and Job Creation at GIZ Ghana, Mr Gerald Guskowski.

Significance

Mr Grant described the agreement as pivotal to the digital agenda of the government.

“This joint effort comes at a crucial time for Ghana in the global context where governments are designing more strategic and innovative ways to promote investment and boost economic growth,” he said.

According to the CEO, the cooperation between the two would also facilitate the provision of information to investors as well as support companies to address investment barriers.

The Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, Ms Dorothee Dinkelaker, expressed her excitement about the formalisation of the partnership which she said would facilitate the implementation of joint projects to promote investment and safeguard jobs in the country.

Additionally, she expressed excitement about the fact that the agreement represented the first long-term cooperation between the GIPC and the German Cooperation.

GIPC effort

Ms Dinkelaker said the GIPC had always been at the fore of successful investment promotion in the country and that it had also contributed to making Ghana the best place for doing business.

“All these make GIPC an essential partner for the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to fulfil the goal of supporting German, European and African companies and investors to put their money in Africa, especially Ghana,” she said.

Together with GIPC, she said, the two partners would support investors to mitigate the negative effect of COVID-19 by providing digital, demand-driven advisory services to European and other investors in the country in the face of the global restrictions.

In addition, she said 20 interested companies would also be offered a business continuity management training to strengthen their resilience to crises, thereby supporting the local supply chain.