Ecobank Ghana and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, on Thursday co-hosted Ghana-China Trade Forum, bringing key stakeholders together to discuss how to tap trade and investment opportunities for the mutual benefit of both countries.

The forum facilitated the trading and investment activities of the bank’s key customers and the public and also provided opportunity for policy makers and key agents for a genuine and informed debate that sought to discover new ways of improving trade between Ghana and China.

Aggregate trade value between Ghana and China shot up from 170 million dollars in 2006 to more than 1.3 billion dollars by the end of 2010.

Speaking at the forum, Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, tasked Chinese companies to make deliberate efforts to improve on the quality of products that are exported into Ghana.

She said just as Chinese companies were able to meet the rigorous standards in the United States and European markets, they could do the same in Ghana offering goods, which are competitive in both price and quality.

Ms Tetteh said it was important that Chinese businesses operating in Ghana met the standards for operation to enable Ghanaians benefit from the transfer of technology, saying that anything short of that could be described as a deliberate act of transgression of the laws of the country.

On retail trade in the market place, the Sector Minister said the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre law frowned on the practice because activities within such domains had been reserved exclusively for Ghanaian nationals as a deliberate policy.

This, she said, was aimed at protecting and safeguarding the economic interest of the citizenry by helping them sustain small and informal business investments without facing any stiff opposition from foreign nationals.

Ms Tetteh said efforts to get foreigners out of the retail market place should not been seen as a hostile attitude to foreign businesses.

The Sector Minister said despite the difficulties there were opportunities for the two countries to enhance trade and investment for their mutual benefit.

Mr Samuel Ashitey Adjei, Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, said to boost international trade and investment it was important that interest groups and stakeholders dialogue continually to identify areas of common interest and address constraints.

He said the bank was constantly seeking ways to provide its customers with reliable, convenient and accessible services in line with the changing trends in the global market place.

Mr Adjei lauded the collaboration between Ecobank and Bank of China, saying it had provided both the Ghanaian and Chinese customers of Ecobank access to the resources and strengths of both banks while removing language and cultural barriers that tended to inhibit business.

“The collaboration of the two banks thus presents an unparallel coverage of both regions, creating a powerful platform that can support the emerging China-Africa trade and investment business,” he said.

Mr Gao Wenzhi, Chinese Economic Consular, asked entrepreneurs to avail themselves of funds set up to support small and medium scale enterprises to boost trade between the two countries.

The forum was held on the theme: “Ghana-China Trade: Expanding Frontiers and Creating Opportunities.”**