<<Print>>

The appointment of Ambassador Victor Emmanuel Smith as Ghana�s Ambassador to England by His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama undoubtedly shows the latter�s desire to pursue an aggressive investment drive in England to woo more investors (from England) into the Ghanaian economy. Ambassador Smith�s appointments as Ghana�s Ambassador to the Czech Republic in 2010 by the then President Mills saw perhaps one of the most well-packaged investment drive by an Ambassador in recent. Victor's zealousness led to the visit to the Czech Republic of the then Vice-President John Dramani Mahama and his meeting with both President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Petr Necas. Then Vice-President Mahama met the entire Czech Chamber of Commence at a Trade and Investment Forum on Ghana�s Oil & Gas Discovery and Investment Opportunities. At the forum, the Deputy Trade Minister of the Czech Republic revealed that Ambassador Victor Smith has sold Ghana so well to Czech businesses so much so that all the members of the Czech Chamber of Commerce took part in the forum. The fruits of the meeting later led to a high profile meeting between President Atta Mills and the Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus. The ill-health of President Mills led to the cancellation of a state visit by the Czech President to Ghana in 2011 with some 150 investors. However, with the seed sown by Ambassador Smith, over 50 top Czech Investors led by their Foreign Minister still visited Ghana last November and met Vice-President Amissah Arthur to explore investment opportunities in Ghana. It is this investment drive in Ambassador Victor Smith that Ghanaians will be looking forward to when he assumes work in England as the country�s envoy. England is undoubtedly a very important trade partner to Ghana. The opportunity of Victor Smith should deepen English Investors interest in the Ghanaian economy. From his days as the de-facto Chief of Staff at the office of Former President Rawlings through his short stint as Director of Protocol at the Presidency under President Mills and his sojourn to the Czech Republic to his performance as Eastern Regional Minister, Victor Smith has marked himself out as an achiever. All eyes are therefore definitely on him as he heads off to England.