Veep asks Indian businesses to look to Africa

The vice-president, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, has asked Indian businesses to recognise Africa as an emerging power house and do business with it.

He said the natural resources of Africa constituted more than half of the world’s resources, positioning it as the potential bread basket of the world.

Mr Amissah-Arthur made the call when he delivered a lecture to students of the Lovely Professional University (LPU) in the Indian province of Punjab.

He called for the diversification and integration of African economies into the global economy, saying the continent could not continue to remain a producer of primary products.

Ghana’s record

Speaking on the topic: “Global trade development and its impact on India-Africa relations”, the Vice-President singled out the Ghanaian economy which, he said, was the fastest-growing economy in 2011.

He touted Ghana’s enviable political and social record in the West African sub-region, adding that “Ghana is a great location for reaching out to the 300 million people in the ECOWAS enclave”.

Mr Amissah-Arthur told the students that Ghana had the ninth largest economy in Africa, coupled with its rich natural resources.

Prospects for Africa

He said unjust global trade practices mitigated against developing economies, adding that those distortions placed a strain on developing economies, resulting in high unemployment.

To stem that tide, the Vice-President underscored the need for stronger cooperation and partnership between Asia, especially India, and the rest of Africa.

“We share many common values and principles and I believe that we have a better understanding of each other as a result of our common history and long-standing relations,” he added.

The Vice-President was accompanied by his wife, Matilda; Ghana’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, Mr Sam P. Yalley; the Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; a Presidential Staffer, Mr James Agyenim-Boateng, and a Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Samuel Adusei.

Memorandum of Understanding

Meanwhile, the government of Ghana and the LPU have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on educational cooperation under which the LPU will provide scholarships for Ghanaian students to study at the LPU.

Mr Ablakwa signed on behalf of the government, while the Chancellor of the LPU, Mr Ashok Mittal, initialled it for the university.

The agreement spells out exchange programmes for students of the two countries and inter-faculty collaboration between universities in Ghana and the LPU.

Mr Wilson Ahiakunu, Ms Claudia Atorsah and Mr Charles Siesegh are Ghanaians pursing Master’s degree programmes in Computer Science, Sociology and International Business Management respectively at the LPU.

The LPU, with a student population of more than 25,000, is a private university ranked among the top universities in India.