Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Coordinator of the National Economic Dialogue Secretariat, has disclosed that over 60 business projects made up of joint ventures and sole Ghanaian proprietorship have been established by Ghanaians resident abroad since the HomeComing Summit was organised last year.

Speaking in an interview with The Crusading Guide, he affirmed that over ?228 billion have been invested in various sectors of the economy by Ghanaians resident abroad. Mr Asamoah Boateng intimated that Agriculture, Export Trade, Tourism, General Trade, Construction, Manufacturing and other sectors had benefited tremendously from the HomeComing summit by way of investment.

To help tap more from Ghanaian residents abroad, he disclosed that a non-resident Ghanaian Secretariat had been established to prepare a comprehensive data on the professionals amongst them.

He added that data on medical and accounting professionals have already been completed by the Secretariat’s regional representative in North America and Europe. “There is an estimated three million Ghanaian residents outside. If we can at least rely on even one million of them on consistent and regular basis in terms of finance, experience and their knowledge transfer, we would gain a lot as a country”, Asamoah Boateng said.

He said his outfit had been in touch with all who came to the HomeComing Summit as well as those who could not make it. Mr Boateng said that various packages have been put in place to help halt delays at the ports. He underscored that his outfit and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) have arranged for non-resident Ghanaians to settle their customs duty and other taxes at their originating countries in order to speed up the process of clearing goods.

The Coordinator of the National Economic Dialogue Secretariat, intimated that his outfit was working with financial institutions to increase the contributions of the non-residents to the economy. Asked whether another HomeComing Summit was going to be organised soon, Mr Boateng said that the country was still tapping the benefits of the recently organised one, adding that his Secretariat was in touch with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and the Volta Region to organise something of a similar nature.

He said that when any organisation or professional body wants his outfit to assist in organising Ghanaians to come home “We would be involved and help them.” Mr Boateng thanked Ghanaians for the hospitality they offered “the homecomers” during the last Homecoming summit.

“And we are urging them to talk to their friends, brothers and sisters that this country is taking resources, we need their inputs. It’s an appeal to those outside that we have realised a lot of investment since the last summit. We want them to increase it, we want to tell them a lot of their counterparts have come and established and they should follow suit,” Mr Boateng said with a smile. - The Crusading Guide