NEW DELHI: Ghana’s trade with India has for the first time touched $2 billion in favour of Ghana, the Indian High Commission in Ghana has revealed. High Commissioner, Mr Jeeva Sagar said India is excited over development because “Ghana is a developing country and it is expected that it is able to export more to India than we are able to do.”
Mr Sagar, who was addressing the Indian community in Ghana on the occasion of that country’s 67th Republic Day celebration, revealed further that Indian investments into Ghana had reached $1billion.
Between 2009 and 2010 the total bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $537.5 million and between 2013 and 2014 the figure rose to $1.2 billion. While India exports to Ghana amounted to $830 million in 2014, Ghana exports to India amounted to $370 million.
Indian exports to Ghana include capital goods, pharmaceuticals products, cotton yarn, fabrics, machinery and instruments. They also comprise of sugar, glass and glassware, ceramics, transport equipment, paper and wood products.
Ghana however exports gold, cocoa, bauxite, manganese ore, diamonds, Timber (mainly teak), cashew, fruits and nuts, metal ores and scrap. The 67th Republic Day was marked by the Indian community in Ghana with a brief flag hoisting ceremony performed by Mr Sagar.
The Indian Envoy expressed gratitude to his colleague businessmen and women and industrialists for their contribution to the development of industry in Ghana. “Am grateful to you all for retaining faith in this country in spite of economic challenges in recent times; Ghana is a friend, it’s a resilient country, a resourceful country and am glad that Indian investments are taking roots in this country,” he said.
India, the largest democracy in the world says it is poised to become the fastest growing economy in the world. Its President, Mr Pranab Kumar Mukherjee in his address to Indian nationals all over the world said “This year, with an estimated growth rate of 7.3 per cent India is poised to become the fastest growing large economy,” stated India’s.
The President referred to the “make-in-India’ campaign which was launched in 2014 and noted that the initiative will boost manufacturing facilitating easy conduct of business and improving the competitiveness of domestic industry.
“The start-up India programme will foster innovation and encourage new-age entrepreneurship,” he stated. Mr Mukherjee announced that India’s National Skill Development Mission would hone the skills of at least 300million youth by 2022.
On education, the President called for a system that fosters critical thinking and makes teaching intellectually stimulating, adding that “it must instill a spirit of reverence towards women and breed a culture of deep thought and create an environment of contemplation and inner peace.”
He condemned the rise in terrorist acts all over the world and decried its manifestation into war. According to him, terrorism is inspired by insane objectives, motivated by bottomless depths of hatred and instigated by puppeteers who have invested heavily in havoc through the mass murder of innocent people.
“This is war beyond any doctrine, a cancer which must operate out with a firm scalpel,” he added. Mr Mukherjee charged his countrymen to strife to make India “a beacon to the world at a time of great danger.”
“We must attempt to resolve the complex edges of our emotional and geo-political inheritance though a peaceful dialogue, and invest in mutual prosperity by recognising that human beings are best defined by a humane spirit and not their worst instincts; our example can be its own message to a world in anxious need of amity,” he concluded.
