The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) will, on June 23 and 24, hold the maiden Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit at the Kempinski Gold Coast City Hotel.

The event, themed “The New Normal, leveraging Diaspora investments to build back better” will create an avenue to foster partnerships between local and Diaspora investors, and showcase Ghana as a choice destination for doing business, to spur the inflow of Diaspora Direct Investments.

The two-day programme will bring together various primary stakeholders to steer conversations on the Ghana-Diaspora business relationship.

Among the host of esteemed speakers include; the Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene; Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta; Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; Tourism Minister, Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, and the CEO of the GIPC, Yofi Grant.

The summit is consistent with the recent "Beyond the Return" initiative, which is a follow-up to the "Year of Return” campaign that was launched in 2019.

It is expected to engender a more constructive interaction with Africans in the diaspora and all people of African descent in areas such as trade and investment, as well as skills and knowledge development.

While commemorating the ‘Year of return’, President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, stressed the need to effectively mobilise and engage the diaspora as active partners in the nation’s development.

“Let us all remember that the destiny of all black people, no matter where they are in the world, is bound up with Africa.

"We must help make Africa the place for investment, progress and prosperity and not from where our youth flee in the hope of accessing the mirage of a better life in Europe or the Americas,” he said.

Initiatives have since been amplified to create awareness and allow for greater contribution from diasporas, including the setting-up of the Diaspora Investment Desk (DID) at the GIPC.

“A lot of Diasporas have consistently expressed interest in either living or establishing a business in Ghana. It is, therefore, our expectation of converting these opportunities to viable economic activity that will benefit the nation and the continent as a whole,” said Yofi Grant, CEO of the GIPC.

“I’m confident that the summit will thus open the door for partnerships and encourage sustained home-based investments by persons in the diaspora, as we consider them as our partners in development”, he added.

The Ghana Diaspora Investment Summit is being held under the auspices of President Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo and supported by the Foreign Affairs Ministry; Information Ministry, the Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President, Diaspora Africa Forum, and Beyond the Return Secretariat under the Ghana Tourism Authority.

There will be exhibitions and opportunity to pitch projects during the two-day summit.

Additionally, interested participants can follow the GIPC on its social media platforms @gipcghana on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, and YouTube for a link to register, or catch the live event on 23rd and 24th June 2021 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm each day.