Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, on Wednesday encouraged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to have a good knowledge of French to enable them to enhance their business and trade relations with their French-speaking counterparts.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for 95 participants of the Business French Training Programme, Ms Tetteh said a good knowledge of French would help reduce the linguistic barriers in their quest for new markets and to increase Ghana’s trade relations and develop new opportunities.

Officially launched in October 2008, the Business French Training Programme was a three-year programme financed by the French Development Agency through a grant of one million Euros to offer Ghanaian businesses in the public and private sectors, the opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness and to enhance their trade activities with the neighbouring French speaking counterparts.

The project sought to train about 360 persons involved in promoting trade over the three- year period and at the end of the project 266 from public institutions and private companies benefitted from the training at Alliance Francaise based on a programme established in partnership with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A consortium made of Alliance Francaise, Deloitte and Touche and integrated solutions ensured the training, the management and the promotion of the programme, which ended in December 2011.

Ghana is a member of the Economic Community of West African Countries, which has 10 French-speaking countries as members.

The overall objective of the French project was to improve Ghana’s integration into the French-speaking sub-region, build capacity of Ghanaian companies in order to enhance their trade relations and develop partnerships with local institutions to establish a perennial business.

Ms Tetteh asked the graduates to apply the knowledge acquired in their fields of endeavour to better serve their organisations to enable the country reap the benefits of integration.

Mr Felix Nana Sackey, Managing Director Deloitte and Touche, said a good knowledge of French for commercial purposes was key factor in boosting the competitiveness of the enterprises in winning new markets and for developing business opportunities.

The participants who achieved the expected level of attendance to classes over the period were awarded certificates.**