Abuja — ECOWAS has intensified preparations for the Second Business Forum with China with the inaugural meeting of the Presidents of the Regional Business Associations (RBAs) and a joint meeting with the Inter-Ministerial Private Sector Organizing Committee for the forum, taking place in Accra, Ghana 20th -21st March 2012.
The two-day meeting, which ended in Accra on 9th March 2012 and was attended by officials from the relevant Ministries, Departments and Private Sector of the host country, enabled ECOWAS officials to review preparations for the Forum from the perspectives of the ECOWAS Commission and Ghana's Government and the private sector In his opening remarks, the leader of the ECOWAS delegation, Mr. Eno Umoessien said the meeting was to enable the two sides evaluate the preparations and the challenges to ensure that the Forum achieved its objective of attracting more Chinese investments into the region and leveraging the Asian country's massive foreign reserves.
Over 1,000 participants from West Africa, including 200 private sector operators and 150 government officials attended the inaugural Forum, which was hosted by China in Beijing in September 2008, and focused on stimulating Chinese investments in energy, mining and petrochemicals, construction, textile and light industry, as well as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, financial services, machinery, electronics and telecommunications. In the aftermath of that first business Forum, several Memoranda of Understanding and agreements for investments worth billions of US dollars have been signed between Chinese companies and the Governments of Ghana, Sierra Leone and Nigeria's western State of Osun, for various infrastructure development projects such as airports, roads and dams.
Discussions are also ongoing for other projects. China has also opened the West African Office of the China-Africa Development Fund in Accra, Ghana since 2011, to coordinate its operations in the region. The Second ECOWAS-China Business Forum will focus on attracting additional Chinese investments into the power sector and infrastructure development, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, agro-food and allied services, mining, as well as information and communications technology (ICT). It will be organized in a three-layered structure with the opening ceremony, presentations and a third session dedicated to business, trade and investment discussions by private sector and government operatives from the two sides.
During the two-day preceding meeting of the RBAs, Mr. Umoessien, who represented the ECOWAS Commission's Director of Private Sector, Mr. Alfred Braimah, stressed the need for the associations to strengthen their structures in order to improve their attractiveness for collaboration with investors. He pledged the Commission's continued support within the limits of its budget.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives of five associations, provided participants with the opportunity to share activity reports for 2011, plans for 2012 with discussions on the impending regional forum.
In attendance were representatives of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of West African Employers Association, the ECOWAS Federation of Women in Business and Entrepreneurs, the NEPAD Business Group of West Africa and the Investment Promotion Agencies of West Africa.
