South African and Ghanaian companies explored trade and investment opportunities when they participated in a virtual South Africa-Ghana Trade and Investment Webinar on 18 to 19 August. The session was hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) with the aim reinvigorating and rekindling bilateral economic relations between the two countries post the Covid-19 pandemic.
The theme of the session was, Developing Afrocentric Solutions and Forging Partnership in Response to Covid-19. Companies operating in agro-processing and agricultural equipment; pharmaceutical, mining, rail, textile, energy and infrastructure attended the session.
This also forms part of South Africa’s commitment to increasing intra-African trade and investment in line with the spirit and letter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
According to the dtic, bilateral trade between South Africa and Ghana was on an upward growth trajectory before being negatively affected by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown in South Africa. Two-way trade between the two countries increased considerably from almost R4 billion in 2014 to R14 billion in 2019.
Story by: Riaan de Lange