Jamaica to send trade mission to Ghana

WESTERN BUREAU:

As part of an ongoing effort to solidify its bilateral trading partnership with Ghana, Jamaica will be sending a trade mission to the African country next month to seek out additional avenues for investment.

Speaking on Wednesday’s final day of the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, in Montego Bay, St James, Foreign Affair and Foreign Trade Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith outlined details of the upcoming trade mission. 

“Next month, the governments of Jamaica and Ghana will be fielding a trade mission, and we have 38 Jamaican companies that are already signed up that will be part of a delegation headed by the minister of industry and investment, Senator Aubyn Hill,” said Johnson Smith. “He (Hill) will be accompanied by the head of the Special Economic Zone Authority and the head of JAMPRO, and they will be meeting with investors, distribution companies, and the Ghanaian private sector, with the concurrence and support of Ghana's export promotion authorities and Jamaica's High Commissioner, based in Nigeria but accredited to Ghana.” 

According to Johnson Smith, while previous partnerships with Ghana have yielded mixed results, she is confident that the Ghanaian market offers good potential for business. 

“When GraceKennedy entered Ghana [in 2012], they determined to end that experience and exited the market, and the narrative actually developed that Ghana was not a good place for Jamaica to invest,” she said. 

“But Supreme Ventures went there several years later and has had phenomenal success, and we have small financial technology companies that have also gone there and had phenomenal success. 

“It is clear that the times have changed, the systems have changed, and the trust factors have changed, and it is therefore important for us to harness the moment.” 

Johnson Smith also noted that Jamaica and Ghana have had previous discussions on the possibility of establishing a mutual air services route between Kingston and Ghana’s capital, Accra.

“We have also discussed finalising an air services agreement between us, because the Government of Ghana is looking at reigniting Ghana Airways, as they recognise that connectivity is critical to expanding their trade agenda beyond the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. They are very much interested in ensuring that, among the routes, there is an Accra to Kingston route,” she said.

Johnson Smith’s comments came after Morris Sinclair, the founder and chief executive officer of the AfriCaricom Alliance, announced that he has planned a programme for 2027 that will allow Caribbean nationals to connect with their African roots, saying he had spent time enabling Jamaican entrepreneurs to establish business connections in Ghana.

According to Sinclair, he has put together a programme to have stakeholders from the Caribbean visit Ghana for the country’s 70th independence celebrations next year. He said it will offer them an opportunity to find their roots through DNA.

“I have partnered with a company in America that actually traces your DNA as an African to where you are from on the continent, and this is going to be very powerful for us,” he said.

Sinclair further noted that he has found many ways how a Jamaican company, a Jamaican individual, a Jamaican businessperson, whether a small or medium enterprise, can visit Ghana and do business that can work for them.

“I am able to connect Ghanaians to us here in the Caribbean in such a way that works for them, so that not only do they make that initial connection, but it is an ongoing connection that will last for years to come,” he said.

Jamaica and Ghana previously sought to renew bilateral relations with the third session of the Jamaica-Ghana Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation, which was held in Ghana earlier this year. 

That series of meetings, which marked the first time the Joint Commission had met since 2005, saw the signing of two cooperation agreements in health and defence, including a framework for the recruitment of Ghanaian healthcare workers to Jamaica, along with a modernised framework for sports and culture.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com