The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has appealed to Economic Counsellors at the various Foreign Missions and Embassies to request their businessmen and entrepreneurs to register with the Centre.

The move, the GIPC noted will tremendously contribute to the Centre’s FDI target of US$10 billion for this year.

“Few of the Missions consistently offer that advice to their nationals who want to invest here, but of course, we at the GIPC want the numbers to increase through the assistance from the various embassies,” GIPC’s CEO, Mr. Yofi Grant told the Goldstreet Business at the 2018 Economic Counsellors Dialogue in Accra.

The dialogue which is on the theme: ‘Improving the Investor Experience in Ghana; Incentives Regime, Business Licensing and Taxation’ is organized to sensitize economic counsellors at the various foreign missions about GIPC’s investment programmes as well as current investment opportunities in the country.

“So the aim is to educate the diplomatic community about our programmes and investment policies so that, the information be passed on to their citizens who want to invest here for an informed decision. It is also to give us the platform to address some investment issues that are not clear to investors,” Mr. Grant said.

Ghana currently has 83 foreign representations. The number includes 49 Embassies, 10 High Commissions, four Consulates General and 20 Consulates.

This, the GIPC hopes to leverage on, to drive foreign direct investment inflows to meet its 2018 target.

However, Mr Grant was upbeat that most foreign companies operating in the country, are complying with the foreign worker policy system, where the law permits each company to engage a maximum of four employees under the quota system.

“What that means is that very few companies would be able to engage additional foreign employees through the acquisition of work permits which are more expensive.”

This, he clarified, would mean more Ghanaians could be trained and offered the opportunity to assume such positions that otherwise would have been more expensive for the companies to fill with expatriates.