West African neighbours Ghana and Nigeria are to hold a business summit in October to facilitate bilateral trade relations between them.
The private sector initiative scheduled for Accra on 6-8 October is to accelerate economic integration and development, George Kumi, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, said at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday.
The three-day summit would facilitate the signing of a trade agreement, the first of its kind, to help break obstacles that affect businesses in the two countries.
Kumi said stronger trade and investment cooperation had the potential to turn around their economies.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the two countries contributed to over 60 per cent of the GDP in the sub-region and therefore partnership to explore investment and trade opportunities would yield tremendous gains.
Kumi said while Nigerian investors had injected over 600 million dollars into the Ghanaian economy within the last seven years, especially in the banking sector, Ghanaian investment in Nigeria was insignificant.
He attributed the low Ghanaian investment in Nigeria to mistrust and other perceptions discrediting business transactions with Nigerians, saying that a platform to remove the suspicions and barriers was therefore crucial.
M.O. Obanikoro, Nigeria High Commissioner in Ghana, said the time had come for Africans to come together to do away with internal obstacles that were affecting the progress of the continent.
He stated that if Ghana and Nigeria were successful in this collaboration, the benefits would spread to all blacks including Africans in the Diaspora.
