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CANCHAM paid a courtesy call to the Vice President of Ghana

A ten-member delegation representing the Council of the Canada Ghana Chamber of Commerce paid a courtesy call on His Excellency, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the way forward for businesses in the Chamber looking at the current economic situations and also to invite the Vice President to the Chamber’s annual flagship event dubbed “CEOs Connect.” The delegation was led by the President of the Chamber Mr. Alexander Nortey who reiterated that the chamber’s focus for the year is to raise capital and acquire funding for its members in the SME space. Briefing His excellency on some of the activities and trade shows held in Canada in which the chamber participates , the President highlighted PDAC which is the mining show, Global Energy Show for the Energy sector and Construct Canada for the Construction industry. This he said has resulted in some investment and partnership into the country. Mr. Alexander Nortey also stated that last year about thirty participants were assisted by the Chamber to attend the Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit held in Toronto, Canada.

The event was organized by Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) in collaboration with the Chamber. H.E the Vice President applauded the Chamber for supporting SMEs. He said the government is poise to help raise capital to support SMEs since they represent about 90% of businesses in Ghana. He stated that SMEs will soon be clothed with a unique identity which will make it easy for due diligence to be done on them and therefore increase the possibility of accessing funding and investment both locally and globally. H.E Dr. Mahamndu Bawumia, used the opportunity to speak to the Council about the newly launched Digital Electronic Tax Clearance Certificate which will enable taxpayers file their tax returns, check their tax compliance status and print their tax clearance certificate online. With this platform, the GRA now has the tool to follow up on companies that are not tax complaint and bring them in to widen the tax net. H.E the Vice President, empathized with businesses who have to operate under the current unstable economic conditions. Policies like the “Gold for oil” which has stabilized the cedi and reduced fuel prices in the short term, coupled with government determination to reduce our debt ratios so as to qualify us for the IMF bailout, are indications that the government is poised to revive the economy. The Senior Trade Commissioner of the Canadian High Commission, Andrew Maharaj urged the government of Ghana to look into the foreign content requirement to help bring more investment and bilateral trade between Ghana and Canada. Andrew Maharaj gave the H. E The Vice President heads up on Canada’s preparation towards the Africa Trade Strategy which will give more focus on Ghana.