PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
2nd ECOWAS-China forum to hold in Ghana
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Ghana will host the second edition of the ECOWAS-China forum from 20-21 March in Accra, during which private-sector operators will seek to develop partnerships in six key areas with Chinese firms, the West African sub-regional body announced here Wednesday.
In a statement issued from its Abuja headquarters, ECOWAS said the six key areas of partnership were mainly infrastructure development -- specifically roads, railways, housing, construction and transportation.
Other areas of collaboration are in the sectors of power, mining, agriculture, health care, pharmaceuticals and information and communications technology (ICT), it added.
The Economic and Trade Forum seeks to maximize the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China into ECOWAS countries; attract long-term concessionary funds for developing public infrastructure; promote ECOWAS-China trade and, by extension, intra-ECOWAS trade; and extend the global reach of financial institutions in West Africa.
The ECOWAS Commission’s high-level delegation to the Accra Forum will include the President and vice president, as well as representatives of West African governments and institutions.
Representatives of six prominent Chinese institutions, including the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China-Africa Development Fund will attend the Accra forum.
In June 2011, a high-level ministerial delegation, led by the immediate past President of the ECOWAS Commission, James Victor Gbeho, visited China during which they presented critical integration projects, mainly in Ghana and Sierra Leone, to the Chinese government, the EXIMBANK of China, China Development Bank and the China African Fund.
In addition, the delegation discussed with ECOWAS ambassadors in China as well as the China CAMC engineering Co Ltd., the China Gezhouba group, and also visited Hubei provincial government, and the Wuhan municipal and Silchuan provincial governments to showcase investment opportunities in the ECOWAS region and regional integration projects.
The achievements of that visit included the signing of several memoranda of understandings and contracts between key Chinese institutions and the governments of Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
China hosted the inaugural edition of the forum from 23 to 26 September, 2008.
The ECOWAS-China collaboration is the first of its kind in Africa and the ECOWAS Commission is determined to realize the full potentials of the partnership.
-0- PANA PR/VAO 29Feb2012
In a statement issued from its Abuja headquarters, ECOWAS said the six key areas of partnership were mainly infrastructure development -- specifically roads, railways, housing, construction and transportation.
Other areas of collaboration are in the sectors of power, mining, agriculture, health care, pharmaceuticals and information and communications technology (ICT), it added.
The Economic and Trade Forum seeks to maximize the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China into ECOWAS countries; attract long-term concessionary funds for developing public infrastructure; promote ECOWAS-China trade and, by extension, intra-ECOWAS trade; and extend the global reach of financial institutions in West Africa.
The ECOWAS Commission’s high-level delegation to the Accra Forum will include the President and vice president, as well as representatives of West African governments and institutions.
Representatives of six prominent Chinese institutions, including the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China-Africa Development Fund will attend the Accra forum.
In June 2011, a high-level ministerial delegation, led by the immediate past President of the ECOWAS Commission, James Victor Gbeho, visited China during which they presented critical integration projects, mainly in Ghana and Sierra Leone, to the Chinese government, the EXIMBANK of China, China Development Bank and the China African Fund.
In addition, the delegation discussed with ECOWAS ambassadors in China as well as the China CAMC engineering Co Ltd., the China Gezhouba group, and also visited Hubei provincial government, and the Wuhan municipal and Silchuan provincial governments to showcase investment opportunities in the ECOWAS region and regional integration projects.
The achievements of that visit included the signing of several memoranda of understandings and contracts between key Chinese institutions and the governments of Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
China hosted the inaugural edition of the forum from 23 to 26 September, 2008.
The ECOWAS-China collaboration is the first of its kind in Africa and the ECOWAS Commission is determined to realize the full potentials of the partnership.
-0- PANA PR/VAO 29Feb2012
