Ghana holds seminar to explore economic benefit

As part of efforts to strengthen the Ghana-Korea relationship a seminar has been organized in Accra to discuss areas of economic interest between the two countries.

The Korean economy is among the fastest growing economy worldwide with a per capita income 16,291 dollars.

The day's seminar which was on Korea's economic development and ICT Industry saw participation largely from the Ministries, departments and agencies MDAs. An oil refinery in Korea is one of the companies hoping to take up 35 percent stake in the Tema Oil Refinery, TOR.

Speaking to Joy business report the Minister for finance and Economic planning Kwadwo Baah Wiredu said Ghana has a lot to learn from Korea especially in the area of oil refinery.
“We started ours in 1990 that is the Tema Oil Refinery. We are processing 45,000 barrels a day. They started theirs around the 70's, SK Cooperation and others. They are processing over 800,000 barrels a day. They have also assisted us to build structures at TOR called Catalytic Cracker. They are also prepared to help us expand that facility so that we can also refine ore like the way they are doing”.

The minister added that although there has been a study growth in the value of trade between the two countries going up by over 77 percent over the past 7 years, the balance of trade between the countries is in favour of Korea.

He says another possible area of collaboration between Ghana and Korea is in the shipping sector.

“We started Tema Shipyard in the 60's. Virtually, it collapsed. They started theirs in the 70's. It's called Hondai Shipyard in South Korea. It's the biggest shipyard in the whole world. They can also co-operate with us and off load some of their contracts to us”, he said.