President of the CCFG, Mr. Patrick Pardo giving the opening address at the event
The French Ambassador to Ghana, H.E Frederic Clavier on May 27, 2014 unveiled the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ghana (CCFG) at a highly attended inauguration ceremony at his residence in Accra.
The event, which was jointly organized by the Board of Directors of CCFG, attracted a pool of high profile personalities including Vice President Amissah-Arthur, some Ministers of State, Members of the Diplomatic Corp, as well as an impressive representation of the corporate community in Ghana.
In his opening address, Chairman of the CCFG, Mr. Patrick Prado, said the one-month old French Chamber seeks to provide a platform for exchange and business networking between French and Ghanaian companies by assisting and facilitating trade, investment, finance and industry activities between both countries.
According to him, “it is really necessary to propose a lot of services to future members, leading global companies, mid-size companies as well as SMEs and entrepreneurs in order to create more and more businesses.”
Mr. Clavier, in turn, stated that the aim of the Chamber of commerce is to “increase French investments in Ghana, and Ghanaian ones in France by encouraging companies in both countries to prospect and set up businesses in Ghana and/or in France.”
Describing Ghana as “an engine of Africa’s economic growth”, the French Ambassador also stressed on the importance of building economic bridges between Ghana and its neighboring francophone countries, which according to him, would be facilitated through the activities of the French Chamber of Commerce in Ghana.
Vice President Amissah-Arthur, who was very optimistic about the medium and long term prospect of Ghana’s economy, in his remarks, assured both French and Ghanaian companies of government’s continuous effort to resolve the current economic challenges facing the country.
According to him, the CCFG’s goal of ensuring the growth of Ghanaian and French businesses in the country by facilitating trade and investments will go a long way to complement government’s efforts toward building a resilient Ghanaian economy.
The French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ghana (CCFG) is an open association of companies and professionals, belonging to different sectors, with main objective to support, foster and enhance bilateral trade and investment relations and exchanges between Ghana and France.
The inauguration ceremony was therefore a platform to introduce the business chamber to prospective members, as well as present the objectives, activities and services of the CCFG, which currently has 60 members, including TOTAL, SOCIETE GENERALE, ALLIANZ, CFAO Ghana Limited, RENAULT, among others.
By: Prince Asare, Diplomatic Call.
