The Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah on Monday 12 June, 2023 met with business community of China in Ghana.

This is in furtherance of a discussion the Regional Minister had with the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Lu Kun when he called on him at the Chinese embassy on 25 April 2023.

Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah noted that as part of an initiative to bring investments into the Region, there is the need to establish close ties between the Ashanti Region and development partners such as China for mutual benefit. “An area that can be of mutual benefit to both parties is rice production and as we speak a team of investors were in the Region on 10 June to take soil sample for testing”, he added.

According to him, the meeting with the investors was successful since a number of them who are already into other areas of agriculture such as poultry have expressed interest in moving into the Region to invest. He added that his office will give them the necessary support within the available legislative and policy framework so that there will be local production to reduce over reliance on import.

Mr. Tang Hong, the President of the Ghana Chinese Chamber of Commerce praised the Ashanti Regional Minister for the initiative and noted that the Chinese business community will leverage on the 1D1F initiative of the government to invest in the Region.

According to Mr. Hong, with the availability of factors such as water for irrigation, vast and comparatively cheap land as well as support from the Regional Minister and the King of Asante, he is confident that investing in the Region will yield the necessary result.

Sompaonline.com/Nana Yaw Boamah