Chennai, August, 2022: The India Africa Trade Council organized the India ECOWAS Trade Conference which is attended by the Business community in South India especially Tamil Nadu. The President of Indian Economic Trade Organization Dr. Asif Iqbal welcomed the High Commissioner of Ghana in India His Excellency Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh and pledged the commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership. There is a huge interest in India for Ghana, a country with great scope for bilateral trading opportunities in Pharma, Medicines, IT development, Textiles, Garments and Industrial development by Indian companies. The Ambassador is also accompanied by the Minister, Counsellor from the Ghana High Commission in New Delhi Ernest Nana Adjei who presented the latest reformed business policy of Ghana that is very prospective for investors. The Head of Ministry of External Affairs in Chennai Dr. Venkatachalam Murugan will grace the Opening ceremony of the ECOWAS Trade Commission to be headed by Mr Jinnah Rafiq who delivered the address and welcomed High Commissioner of Ghana to Chennai. He read out the commitment of the Chief Minister of Tamil nadu who is pushing foreign relations to a new reformed policy in the state.
During the Event the Ambassador presented the Ghana Coffee to the MEA official and will explore the option of formally launching the coffee during the visit of the Investment Council of Ghana in October. The ECOWAS delegation will be headed to Ghana Accra in October 2022 at the World Trade to cover the opportunities and invite prospective businessmen to invest in Ghana in sectors of Pharmaceutical, Garments, Textiles, Agro processing.
The event is attended by the Head of MEA Secretariat Dr. Venkatachalam Murugan IFS who also spoke about accelerating India’s relationship with the African region and welcomed delegates from Tamil nadu state to pledge support for the various other nations around the African region. Previously he was heading the East and South Africa (ESA) division in the Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India. Shri Jinnah Rafiq spoke about India’s efforts in strengthening relations especially when India is celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence. India has also in the past extended various credit lines to Ghana through the Exim Bank a line of credit of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) for financing Industrial parks.
During the conference, the letter of Appointment was given to Jinnah Rafiq as the Trade commissioner for the India Africa Trade Council-ECOWAS Trade Commission. He will drive the relationships between India and the ECOWAS countries. “Tamil Nadu being a hub for many GCC countries can be a great destination for Ghana due to its proximity and its past linkages to India, We welcome investments for Ghana and will act as a catalyst to connect this country with our state of Tamil nadu” said Mr. Jinnah Rafiq who will be opening the trade office soon.
The ongoing Government of India assistance in developmental projects in Ghana continued with sanctioned Lines of Credit worth more than US$1 billion to the Government of Ghana for construction of Infrastructure and power transmission lines. Ghana is one of the largest recipient of long term concessional credit from India in Africa.
The High Commissioner also presented the opportunities to the main guests from Tamilnadu and also expressed great interest in supporting the trade relations between the two countries and invited the trade community to explore all the available choices for investors.
India Africa Trade Council (IATC) is working on building bilateral trade relations by assisting Indian companies that are looking at various projects coming up in African region for promoting growth in commerce and trade, especially in Indian Pharma which likely to increase as the Ethiopia market expands. The India Africa Trade Council previously hosted the Additional Secretary of the Africa region, Ministry of External Affairs during which the mechanisms between India and Africa were concluded.