Dubai - MENA Herald: After establishing a foothold in the first year of its operations, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s international office in Accra, Ghana, is turning its attention towards the whole West African Region. To this effect, the Ghana international office hosted an Ambassadorial Luncheon for the Accra based diplomatic community representing West African countries in Ghana. The ambassadorial luncheon, held at the Kempinski Hotel – Gold Coast City recently, was attended by representatives from Embassies of Nigeria, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ivory Coast and Benin as well as officials from private sector companies and Burkina Faso Chamber of Commerce. The networking luncheon started with presentations by Omar Khan, Director International Offices, Dubai Chamber, on Why Dubai Chamber is the Right Partner and Kojo Adjei-Barwuah of Abraaj Group, on Creating Champions in Sub-Saharan Africa which was followed by a presentation by Fred Kojo Ellis of Agility Africa on Agility Distribution Parks - Delivering International Standards. Abraaj Capital, a company based out of Dubai since 1997 has been operating in Africa for many years with successful projects as during the presentation its representative highlighted the possibilities and advantages of working with investors and businesses from Dubai while Agility Africa official showcased his company’s aggressive Africa expansion plans as well as the full-solution platforms which serve as a springboard for many Dubai and GCC companies to enter the market through a logistics solutions brand. Informing about the Chamber’s international office in Ghana, Omar Khan stated that this is the second African office and it covers the West African region. Its main objective is to focus on increasing bilateral business opportunities between Dubai, Ghana and West Africa while assisting new and existing Dubai based companies to expand their business activities in the continent. “Set up as part of Dubai Chamber’s global strategy of exploring promising markets of the world, especially the African market, the Ghana office is on the right track to attract companies from West Africa while also promoting the emirate’s strategic location as a gateway to the MENA region and beyond and its business community’s competitiveness to overseas investors,” said Khan. “This networking luncheon provided a fitting platform for Ghana-based diplomats and representatives of the private sector to know more about two-way trade between Africa and Dubai as well as to discuss investment opportunities and joint ventures between the two countries,” he added. To understand the potential for investment in Ghana, the Director of Dubai Chamber International Offices visited a three-year old steel fabrication company at Accra’s Tema Export Processing Free Zone. Over the past few years Dubai Chamber embarked on an expansion strategy to strengthen its ties with key markets around the world. As such, international offices were established overseas from one office in 2012 to five offices in 2015. These offices are located in Baku, Azerbaijan; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Erbil, Kurdistan; Accra, Ghana; and Maputo, Mozambique.
