Isaac AIDOO in Accra, Ghana
- Ambassador to China pushes Guangzhou – Accra flight
Winfred Nii Okai Hammond, Ghana’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the People’s Republic of China, has urged Ghanaian businesses to take advantage of the immense potential of the Chinese commercial and industry boom in the midst of efforts to secure a direct flight from Guangzhou in China to Accra, Ghana.
According to Hammond, the trade volumes between Ghana and China had moved from $7 billion to $10 billion in the last three to four years.
However, travel between the two countries has remained a challenge as at some point, Ghana could only count on one airline to China.
“It was Turkey [Turkish Airlines], and even that came with all of its challenges; currently most people use Ethiopian Airlines which has about two flights a day, you may find out that more than 50 percent of those on such flights end up in China. Emirates also have daily flights, and you will find out many of them end up in different towns in China. So, the question I ask myself is why we can’t have a direct flight between China and Ghana,” he said.
He said the Ghana Embassy realised that the most strategic place to have an airline connecting Accra will be Guangzhou in China because it doesn’t only host Ghana’s Consulate General, but also hosts most Ghanaians and hundreds of thousands of West Africans in general who ply their trade from that city.
Hammond noted that Accra, and for that matter Ghana, had a lot to offer because Accra had become a commercial hub with the location of the African Continental Free Trade (AfCFTA) secretariat in Ghana.
“Today we are talking about the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) with the secretariat in Ghana. China has a great interest to help develop this because a strong Continental Free Trade Area will also boost Ghana and China-African relations and so it is very important that if we have link up and have a direct flight between China and Ghana, it’s going to be an airline that is serving West Africa, maybe even go further all the way to Cameroon with a direct flight.
“We know in business, time is money, instead of going through transit times, sometimes ranging between 20 [and] 24 hours, you are going to look at a direct flight that brings you 15, 16 hours, [a] saving of 6 to 8 hours is a whole lot, it’s very significant.”
The ambassador said it is for this reason that the Ghana embassy has advanced discussions with the support from the finance and transport ministries of Ghana and the entire government of Ghana to ensure that there is a direct flight between China and Ghana in the immediate future.
“Discussions are far advanced with all relevant agencies and at the end of the day, it is in the interest of Ghana that we can link up in China in terms of commerce, etc, and our businesses must consider this a significant step,” Hammond said.
He stated that “in a world of digitalization today and China leading the way, I think with the vision that we have, the current vice president of Ghana leading the efforts of pushing this agenda of significantly improving the Ghana-China cooperation, I believe strongly that Ghana has a lot to do with China going into the future.”
Hammond said it is Ghana’s policy to add value to its raw materials and be competitive on a continent that is engaging in free trading, and continuing collaboration with a country like China cannot be overemphasised.
The products that are taken out must be competitive and Ghana can then also leverage on the technology in terms of agricultural machinery and the health sector.
Since Ghana is upbeat about digitalization and China is one of the leading countries in that space, it is crucial that the two countries strengthen ties.
Recalling that China also played a significant role in supporting Ghana to secure its loan from the IMF in both the first and second instances, Hammond said. “I’m happy to say that China supported Ghana to get the loan from the IMF in both instances because without China, it may not have been possible to get the loan.
He hoped that Ghanaian businesses will recognise efforts being made by government to strengthen the interest and cooperation between Ghana and China and take advantage of the Chinese business climate to do legitimate businesses and grow their enterprises
