Beijing — The President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, has invited the private sector of the Peoples Republic of China to participate in the sixth ECOWAS Trade Fair scheduled to take place later in the year in order to strengthen the partnership between West Africa's private sector and their Chinese counterparts.
At meetings with senior Chinese officials in the capital Beijing and the Provinces of Wuhan and Sichuan, the President said that their participation would help showcase the business opportunities that can be explored by both sides. It would also contribute to deepening the economic relations between them. This would make China the first non-ECOWAS Member State to participate in the now biennial fair that enables Member States to showcase their products and help to stimulate intra-Community trade.
The President who is in China at the head of an ECOWAS delegation to mobilize Chinese private sector investment in the development of West Africa infrastructure and agriculture drew the attention of the officials to the region's vast natural resources. 'We consider our region to be a gift to the world because of its natural resource endowments which fuelled the industrial revolution in Europe and should now be used to stimulate the development of the region,' he told the Deputy Governor of Sichuan Province, Mr. Huang Xiao Xiang on Thursday 23rd June 2011 as the ECOWAS delegation wound up the week-long visit. He said the region's vast area of 5.1 million square kilometres with an estimated population of 300 million, huge unharnessed water resources and arable land, and large market were an investor's dream. "It is time for us to deploy these resources in a structured manner for our mutual benefit", he told his Chinese hosts, assuring them of the safety of their investments because of the prevailing atmosphere of peace, stability and democratic governance.
In order to provide a forum to review their cooperation, H.E. Gbeho proposed a biennial meeting of officials of the Commission with their counterparts from Sichuan, assuring the Deputy Governor that the region would, among others, welcome investments in agriculture, railways, energy and tourism, four of the areas identified by his host. Mr. Huang used the opportunity of his remarks to invite ECOWAS to participate in the 12th West China International Trade Fair scheduled for October 2011.
He offered some incentives including facilitating ECOWAS' participation in the fair, assistance with organizing a seminar on ECOWAS during the fair and a free office space to host ECOWAS business office in the Provincial capital to help stimulate business engagement by both sides. "We have through the ongoing process of accelerating our industrialization acquired a lot of experience that can be put at the disposal of ECOWAS and will encourage greater business relationship with West Africa by our private sector", he told the President. The ECOWAS team met with various private sector representatives in the province.
The delegation included Ghana's Minister of Roads and Highways, Hon. Joseph K. Gidisu and the Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Development of Sierra Leone, Hon. Alhaji Foday Mansaray, senior officials of ECOWAS, the two Member States and representatives of the region's private sector.
