![[From the left] Thomas Abanga (CEO of Abanga Farms & Food Systems), Selma Ashipala Musavyi (Namibia High Commissioner to Ghana), Dr. Benjamin Sasu (Head of Food Safety), Mrs. Chariti Gbadawo (Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration) ), Prof Bani (Board Chairman, Abanga Farms and Food Systems) and Clarence Zamuee (MEATCO Rep)](https://citibusinessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Abanga-Farms-Food-Systems-Limited-360x180.png)
The maiden Ghana-European Union Business Summit has ended in Accra with the European Union (EU) promising an external investment of 4.5 billion Euros of the EU Budget to Africa, to generate about 10 million jobs on the Continent.
Mr. Jyrki Katainen, the Vice President of the European Union Commission for Jobs, Growth and Investment, who announced this at the closing ceremony in Accra, said the Africa-European Alliance for Sustainable Jobs launched in September last year, considered job creation as key pillar for resolving job creation challenges in Africa.
He, therefore, called for continuous strengthening of partnerships and co-operation between Ghana and EU to achieve the vision of ensuring a win-win situation, accelerate economic development and prosperity for their peoples.
Mr. Katainen pledged the EU’s commitment to supporting Ghana and other African nations to reach their goals through trade facilitation and innovations.
He said the business summit demonstrated the EU’s commitment to work in partnership with Ghana to accelerate socio-economic and lauded Ghana for being one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa.
He urged Ghana to continue diversifying its economy in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing and services in order to increase exports to the EU market to boost her foreign exchange earnings.
He said sub-Saharan Africa must create about 18 million jobs each year to absolve the teeming unemployed graduates and underlined the need to mobilise private sector investments to achieve that feat.
The EU Vice President noted that the partnership between the EU and Ghana would help each other to speed up its economic growth and ensure prosperity of their peoples, saying that there was a lot of space for growth, job creation and innovation.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in an address, said the EU-Ghana business summit reinforced the common belief of enhancing partnerships.
He said the alliance resonated well with the vision of “Ghana Beyond Aid” programme being pursued by President Akufo-Addo’s government and believed it would reject fresh impetus in their relations.
He said the summit would strengthen the unique partnership between them, which would stimulate economic growth and promote accountability and transparency.
Vice President Bawumia said the EU represented the largest foreign direct investment to Ghana with 300 million dollars annually and the biggest provider of development assistance of more than 500 million dollars.
He said the spirit and the letter of the “Ghana beyond Aid” agenda revolved around four growth poles, including; mobilising domestic resources, enhancing agriculture modernisation for industrial development, strengthening the private sector as the engine of growth, building stable and resilient economy that is transformative and inclusive with the appropriate policy interventions.
ADVERTISEMENT
