A group of 30 Dutch companies will begin a week’s visit to Ghana next Tuesday to explore mutual business opportunities with their Ghanaian counterparts. Aside other areas, the visit from September 24 to September 30 will focus more on the developments in the ports and logistics sector of Ghana.

Hans Docter, Ambassador of The Netherlands, said in a press conference that the two sectors are of great importance to the development of the local private sector and economy of the entire West African region.

He said, The Netherlands, which is home to expertise in managing and developing ports as well as optimising related logistics is ready to share experiences with Ghanaian stakeholders.

“For the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Accra, strengthening our economic ties is a top priority. Economic diplomacy, support to Dutch companies as well as promoting of opportunities for Ghanaian businesses in The Netherlands are core competencies of this Embassy,” Mr Docter said.

The trade mission, organised together with the Netherlands African Business Council (NABC), will provide a varied programme comprising a grand reception on board of the Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS Rotterdam, business to business events, and a symposium.

The symposium will be organised by the Port Development Partnership Africa-Netherlands (PDP), which comprised 16 companies and knowledge institutes, and aims to achieve a sustainable and long-term development of Africa’s main ports.

The Ambassador said the sessions with the business delegation would also help boost public private partnership in many fields such as media, agriculture and hospitality in which The Netherlands is engaged in.

In a related development, Mr Docter said the Navy ship HNLMS would also be in Ghana from September 26- September October 5 as part of a Military exercise dubbed: “African Winds 2013.”

He said the military exercise would involve joint exercises to improve maritime security to keep fishing safe and provide opportunity to discuss military and joint cooperation. Trade between Ghana and The Netherlands has been growing. Ghana exported goods worth 1.2 billion dollars to The Netherlands in 2012 while importing from The Netherlands goods to the tune of 900 million dollars.

The Netherlands is the third largest investor in Ghana, operating in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, media and Information Communication Technology. Ms Boukje van Turenhout of NABC said the visit would create bilateral business opportunities and collaboration with key government bodies and national and international companies, through which the operational efficiency of the ports and connections with the hinterland could improve.

Some of the activities listed are high level meetings, on the job trainings, business-to-business collaboration and company presentations.