SARPONG'S BLOG

The Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) has appealed to the government to fast-track the passage of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill into law. The Western Regional Secretary of the Council, Mr. Joseph Ebambey, made the appeal at Sekondi during an engagement with members of the Council on the impact of offshore oil and gas activities on fisheries resources. The event was under the theme, “A Call for the passage of the Petroleum Bill into law to address the effects of offshore oil and gas exploitation on Environment and Fishing livelihoods”. It was facilitated by the Friends of the Nation, an environmental advocacy non-governmental organization and supported by STAR-Ghana, UKAID and DANIDA. Mr. Ebambey said the fishing industry was at the verge of collapse due to weak fisheries governance and appealed to the government to pay more attention to the sector by passing the bill into law. He said offshore oil and gas activities in the six coastal di...

The Turkish Kitchenware sector is working to increase its trade investment inflow in Ghana through partnerships with Ghanaian industrialists within the next five years. Currently, Turkish kitchenware exports to Ghana stands at $1.06 million. Overall, Turkey’s annual kitchenware exports to the rest of the world stands at $4 billion. Mr Murat Akyuz, Chairman of the Istanbul Chemicals and Chemical Product Exporters' Association (ICCPEA), who led a 14-member business delegation to Ghana, said the current export levels were low and that the target was to increase it ten-fold. ''Our goal is to increase the Turkish kitchenware exports to Ghana to $10 million in the next three years and $20 million in the next five years,'' he said. The delegation has had business meetings with kitchenware importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers in the country. Mr Akyuz said Ghana was chosen because of the great potential it had as a stable democracy and the ...

The Trade and Industry Ministry has charged textile manufacturers to compile and present their patented designs for relevant checks at the borders and ports to curb smuggling of pirated textiles into the country. The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye gave this directive during a meeting with the manufacturers, Anti-Piracy Taskforce and the Registrar General’s Department. According to him, this is part of the review process to salvage the fortunes of the textile industry which has been dwindling due to the importation of pirated textiles. “The issue is simple, we need to have the public education that the President ordered us to do before if we have to get our taskforce back on to the market, we do so. “So based on the assurances by the Registrar General’s Department, I would want us to take steps immediately. By the end of next month, all those manufacturers who have designs should catalogue them, and let us have copies and let customs als...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Israel-Ghana Agricultural Business Opportunities Seminar will take place in Accra on Monday 3rd of March, 2014. The seminar aimed at exploring trade and investment opportunities in the agricultural sector in Ghana and potential future collaborations between Ghana and Israel. The seminar is part of activities marking the official visit of the Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Yair Shamir, together with an agro-business delegation. The seminar is being organized by the Israeli Embassy together with the Israeli Export and International Cooperation Institute, in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC); and will introduce representatives of leading Israeli agricultural companies and their Ghanaian counterparts in both the public and private sectors. It is also expected to provide a unique platform for business networking and business to business (B2B) and business to government (B2G) meetings. ...

...As Nissan partner Stallion Group to provide affordable cars President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has said in Davos, Switzerland that his administration is fully committed to rapidly developing Nigeria's automobile industry through the diligent implementation of the country's new national automotive policy. Speaking at a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motors, Mr. Carlos Ghosn and representative of Nissan's partners in Nigeria, Mr. Sunil Vaswani, who is the Chairman of Stallion Group, President Jonathan said the key objective of the new policy was to make new cars affordable to more Nigerians. "The only way to reduce the preponderance of second hand cars on our roads is to produce good quality cars with affordable pricing locally," the President said. Welcoming the Nissan group's investment in vehicle production in Nigeria, President Jonathan noted that all investors in local automobile production in the country will...

Vodafone Ghana has announced that it has spend over US$700 million into expanding its data and voice coverage sites from an initial 300 in 2009 to about 2,000 in 2013 across the country. According to Vodafone, it is committed to ensure quality network service to existing and new customers despite several cable theft and damage to its cable across the country. Currently, the company is undertaking a massive expansion to improve network quality for mobile customers in new and existing sites in the Western, Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Volta, Upper East, Central and the Northern regions. The move to add more sites in these regions by Vodafone is to give value for money and provide reliable and stable service to customers. Some industry analysts believe the network expansion and strong growth in data consumption will help pull more subscribers despite stiff competition from the like s of MTN, Airtel, Tigo and Glo.   Vodafone Ghana, which began operations in...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Standard Chartered Bank and Visa, one of the world’s largest retail electronic payment networks, have entered into a partnership to offer 2014 FIFA World Cup rewards to customers in Ghana in a promotion dubbed, ‘Experience Brazil Live’. The relationship will offer the Bank’s Visa card customers an opportunity to win a trip for two package to watch the Ghana Black Stars compete for honours in Brazil when the tournament commences in June this year, courtesy of Visa. Every FIFA World Cup year presents varied opportunities for businesses and the Bank intends to use the platform to reward customer loyalty and also project its strategy of being the digital main Bank in the country. The promotion, which starts on 21 February, 2014 and ends on 30 April, 2014, requires all new and existing Visa Gold, Platinum and Infinite card holders to use their Visa debit cards online and at points of sale terminals within or outside the country when paying for goods...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong President John Dramani Mahama has announced that this year, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, with the support of Government, plans to increase the beneficiary families of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) to 100,000. However, the beneficiary household will be increase to 150,000 in 2015. He stated that through the LEAP programme, the sector Ministry made cash grants to 74,000 of the poorest households across the country. ‘This means currently, the poorest 74,000 families in Ghana will be able to afford food, clothing and the cost of basic transportation. Now, these families will have access to healthcare and education; now, these families can even invest in some small income-generating activity,’ said President Mahama. President Mahama announced this when he delivered his second State of the Nation Address to the people of Ghana at Parliament on Tuesday 25 February, 2014. He stated that the LEAP progra...