Ghana, Netherlands Business Council Meets Veep

The Board of the Ghana Netherlands Business & Culture Council (GNBCC) paid a courtesy call on Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on Monday.

The delegation to Flagstaff House, led by Kofi Boateng, a former Managing Director of Tex Styles Ghana Ltd and current Chairman of the Board of GNBCC, included board members of GNBCC, its General Manager, Tjalling Yme Wiarda and several prominent representatives.

Acting Ambassador Caecilia Wijgers represented the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The GNBCC congratulated Dr Bawumia on his first months in office and welcomed the private sector-oriented approach adopted by the current government.

The Netherlands is currently Ghana's fifth largest export destination, third largest import partner, and among its biggest investment partners.

The GNBCC signaled its readiness to partner the government in implementing its pro-business reform agenda and expressed the hope that this would lead to strengthened private sector engagements between the Netherlands and Ghana.

A trade mission that GNBCC had facilitated earlier this month on food processing technologies and packaging, once again demonstrated the vast opportunities for further trade and investments between the two countries.

GNBCC also shared some concrete examples of challenges perceived by its members.

Among these were the risks of counterfeit and smuggling to Ghana's textile industry, facilitation of the production of energy from waste and challenges related to the ports, such as the costs of clearing goods and the relatively long processing times in Tema.

The GNBCC invited the Vice President to the closing ceremony on 3rd August on the theme, 'New Business Challenge', a unique and annual business case competition organized by GNBCC in which 20 Ghanaian and 20 Dutch students work together in mixed teams on solutions for companies to further promote trade and investments between the Netherlands and Ghana.

In his response, the Vice President, who shared some of the measures the government was already taking to this effect, expressed his interest to continue the dialogue with the GNBCC on a more regular basis.

With members such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Unilever Ghana, Wienco, Vlisco Group, Vivo Energy, Dutch & Co, PwC Ghana and IOI Loders Croklaan, the GNBCC serves as a bilateral Chamber of Commerce for Ghana and the Netherlands.

It represents the business interests of both Ghanaian and Dutch companies and renders business development and support services to its members.

A business desk report