The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) will on January 25, 2023, host the First Annual Assembly of African Investment Promotion Agencies in Accra.

This was contained in a statement issued in Accra by the Centre together by the Heads and Representatives of the invited African Investment Promotion Agencies and along with colleagues from the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA). According to the statement, the economic and political leaders would explore the critical role Investment Promotion Agencies played in boosting intra-African trade.

The maiden summit will focus on: “The Role of IPAs in Facilitating Intra African Trade”.

There will be further discussions on the emerging opportunities AfCFTA continues to present and how various development actors can leverage them to facilitate trade on the continent and boost socio-economic development.

Key speakers at this year’s summit are: Mr Yofi Grant, CEO of the GIPC & Sub Sahara’s Director on the steering Committee of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies and Mr Ismail Ersahin, Executive Director for WAIPA.

Mr Grant commenting on the maiden annual assembly, hailed the event while recounting the opportunities that exist on the continent.

“By 2050, Africa will be a quarter of the global population and what if by 2050, Africa was also the recipient of a quarter of global FDI flows?”
Mr Yofi Grant

Mr Grant noted that as the continent looked inward on how it could promote intra-African trade through AfCFTA, Africa needed to redefine how it looked outward towards its investor partners.

The CEO of the GIPC & Sub Sahara’s Director on the steering Committee of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies averred that the redefinition was best created when they sat around the table and discussed where they were and where they wanted to go. “This is why we are convening the first of many Annual Assembly of African Investment Promotion Agencies,” he said.

According to Mr Grant, through that, they hoped to deepen and continue engagement for the formation of an Association of African Investment Promotion Agencies. He said the annual summit would set the tone for collective engagements on how development actors could target, channel, and leverage foreign investment for mutually beneficial outcomes.

GIPC CEO Calls for Cooperation on Increasing Intra- African Investment in Africa

The CEO of GIPC called for cooperation on increasing intra- African investment in Africa, which was relatively low compared to other regions of the world.

There are currently about 48 African Investment Promotion Agencies, and the Annual Assembly of Investment Promotion Agencies will serve as the official gathering for African IPAs to engage in discussions, exchanges, and knowledge sharing on policies, interventions, current trends in FDI, best practices on investment promotion, the AfCFTA, among other topics.

However, it is not surprising that Ghana was chosen to host the maiden edition of the event as the Ghana Investment Promotion has been by far one of best among its peers on the continent.

It can be recalled that the Capital Finance International (CFI) magazine recently named the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) as Africa’s top investment promotion organization for the fourth consecutive year.

The GIPC actively defended the nation’s favorable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) status with a focused digitalization effort that improved service delivery, promotional visibility, and investor interaction, according to CFI’s award citation.

It also praised the Centre’s accomplishments in fulfilling its duty to encourage, promote, and facilitate investment in the nation per the GIPC Act 865.

The Center has since ramped up its operations and implemented a dynamic structure that aggressively used digital media, high-level stakeholder engagements, and business-to-business (B2B) connections, to keep up with evolving business trends and better served investors.

It has promoted investment opportunities across numerous social media channels, assisted investors in registering projects and requesting exemptions online, and built an investor aftercare division to guarantee the smooth integration of support and business continuity.

Therefore, the incoming annual general assembly is expected to enhance the reputation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Center the more.