<<Print>>The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) has pledged to use its expertise in investments to attract investors from Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to set up their operations in Ghana.
The move is to help increase the presence of UAE’s businesses in the country.
The Head of DCCI in Ghana, Mr Wissam Omar, explained that the initiative was also in line with plans to use Ghana as the gateway for businesses from UAE to enter the sub-region and the continent at large.
He added that the chamber, which comprises over 150,000 members from across all sectors of the economy, also aimed at helping Ghanaians get partners in the UAE.
Explaining further some of the services the chamber offers, Mr Omar said the chamber specialised in helping create a friendly business environment by being the voice of the business community.
That, it does through effective coordination with the various government bodies in Dubai.
He said Ghanaian entrepreneurs were currently well accustomed to Dubai, having been using the region for business, education and as a tourist destination for years.
Trade relations between the two countries, he said, received a major boost in 2005 when UAE's national airline, Emirates, began direct flights from and to Ghana.
This made travel, export and import from and to the UAE easier than ever, he said, citing the inconvenience initially associated with travelling on different airlines, most of which did not go direct.
“That move helped in raising trade volumes between the two countries to US$2.5 billion,” he added.
Mr Omar, however, bemoaned the fact that trade between the two economies remained informal, thereby making it difficult to gauge market trends and opportunities.
Going forward, the head of the DCCI in Ghana was hopeful the presence of the DCCI in Ghana would help ease some of the challenges faced by investors wishing to do business in any of the two countries while helping to increase trade volumes.
He noted that due to the proximity of UAE to African and Asian markets, investors could easily turn in good profits by importing raw materials from Africa and re-exporting them to Asia and other markets.
"At the same time, they could import finished products from Asia (Japan, South Korea, China, India) to re-export them to Africa," he added.