Minister for Trade and Industry, K.T. Hammond, has underscored the strategic importance of trade and investment to Ghana’s economic recovery and growth. To this end, he has indicated that Ghana has put in place the necessary mechanisms, including embarking on business regulatory reforms, to sanitise the business environment.

The Minister made the remarks when the United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia E. Palmer, paid a courtesy call on him in his office, the discussions focused on cooperation in improving the business environment in Ghana, affordable clean energy for industrialization, as well as enhancing US – Ghana trade and investment relations through dialogue.

According to the Minister, continuous steps will be taken to deepen bilateral trade between the two countries, engage the US authorities and make a case for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferential trade agreement before its expiration in the year 2025.

The Minister assured the Ambassador of Government’s readiness to work with the investor community and all other private sector stakeholders to address their concerns through dialogue.

On her part, the Ambassador used the opportunity to announce that a US trade delegation was due to visit Ghana in August this year, as part of a series of visits to the country this year to promote trade and investment between the two countries.

In a related development, the World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Piere Frank Laporte has also called on the Minister and reaffirmed the Bank’s support for the Government’s job creation and private sector development agenda. He also proposed further technical co-operation to intensify and fast-track the national implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to be able to harness its early benefits.

The Hon Minister thanked the Country Director and his team for working closely with the Ministry towards a quick and smooth implementation of key elements of the Ghana Economic Transformation (GET) Project.

The two agreed on the need to address youth unemployment with a two-pronged approach – promoting entrepreneurship for self-employment and expanding investment in manufacturing-related job creation and trade development.