The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has been elected for a second time into the Steering Board of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) as the Regional Directorate for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The GIPC got the nod for the Regional Directorship ahead of the Invest Durban of South Africa at an election held at the 25th WAIPA General Assembly and World Investment Conference in Dubai.
This was contained in a press release by GIPC which added GIPC was first elected into the directorship role in 2019 with the key objectives of leveraging partnerships and linkages across the continent to eliminate poverty, improving cooperation amongst African Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), and creating platforms for African IPAs to share best practices and improve service delivery.
The release hinted that GIPC won the mandate for the second time because it did remarkably well with regards with the key objectives outlined in its first team.
According to the release, the GIPC together with other agencies of the government of Ghana collaborated with the World Economic Forum to establish the (SDGs) SDGs Country Financing Roadmap (CFR), with the primary goal of unlocking capital to fund the SDGs.
“Again, in cooperation with WAIPA, the GIPC conducted a webinar titled “Manoeuvring Through Turbulent Times: The Case of IPAs, FDI, and COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa,” which was attended only by African IPAs. The goal was to increase collaboration among African IPAs in order to confront the worldwide pandemic and devise strategies to continue IPA operations in the face of it”, it added.
It was also stated in the release that with a second term, the GIPC, led by Mr Yofi Grant, looked to aggressively pursue greater collaboration among African IPAs to support regional integration under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, as well as attract more investments that will result in positive economic, environmental, and social benefits for the African continent during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.
The release also said the post covid future was promising and that it is important to elevate the positioning of African IPAs to take advantage of the opportunities it presented to help the continent achieve its development goals including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
WAIPA is a non-governmental organization that was established under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1995 in Geneva as an Association under Swiss law. The organization provides an opportunity for Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) to network and exchange best practices in investment promotion.
It is currently made up of 125 IPAs across the world and its objectives among others are to promote and develop understanding and cooperation amongst IPAs, strengthen information-gathering systems, promote the efficient use of information and facilitate access to data sources, and share country and regional experiences in attracting foreign investment and enhancing outward investments.
